CERN, Geneva
The BBQ tune (Q) and chromaticity (Q') diagnostic systems played a crucial role during LHC commissioning, both in establishing circulating beam and for the first ramps. Early on, they allowed identification of issues such as the residual tune stability, beam spectrum interferences and beam-beam effects – all of which may impact beam life times and are therefore being addressed in view of nominal LHC operation. This contribution discusses the initial beam stability in relation to the achieved instrumentation sensitivity, corresponding tune frequency and chromaticity resolution.
CERN, Geneva
A high resolution beam position monitor (BPM) electronics based on diode peak detectors has been developed at CERN. The circuit processes the BPM electrode signals independently, converting the short beam pulses into slowly varying signals which are digitized with high resolution ADCs operating in the kHz range. For large enough amplitudes the non-linear forward voltage of the diodes is compensated by a simple network using signals from single-diode and double-diode peak detectors. This contribution discusses the performance of the built prototype with beam in the CERN-SPS and comments on possible future applications of the technique.