• S. Hancock, C. Carli, J.F. Comblin, A. Findlay, K. Hanke, B. Mikulec
  CERN, Geneva

Since the CERN PS Booster cannot simultaneously provide the beam brightness and intensity required, the nominal (25ns bunch spacing) proton beam for the LHC involves double-batch filling of the PS machine. Linac 4, which is under construction, will eventually remove this restriction. In the meantime, the request for 50 and 75ns bunch spacings to mitigate electron cloud effects has lowered the intensity demand such that the Booster can meet this in a single batch without compromising beam brightness. Single-batch transfer means providing two bunches from each of three Booster rings and, in turn, that the bunch spacing is modified by the addition of an h=1 rf component to the h=2 in the Booster in order to fit the h=7 rf buckets waiting in the PS (whilst leaving one bucket empty for kicker purposes). Following the first experiments performed in 2008, the rf manipulations in the Booster have been refined and those in the PS have been modified to cope with single-batch beams. This latest work is presented for both the 50 and 75ns variants.

• M. E. Angoletta, A. Blas, A.C. Butterworth, A. Findlay, P.M. Leinonen, J.C. Molendijk, F. Pedersen, J. Sanchez-Quesada, M. Schokker
  CERN, Geneva

In 2008 a project was started to renovate the CERN's PS Booster (PSB) low-level RF (LLRF). Its aim is to equip all four PSB rings with modern LLRF systems by 2013 at the latest. Required capabilities for the new LLRF include frequency program, beam phase, radial and synchronization loops. The new LLRF will control the signals feeding the three RF cavities present in each ring; it will also shape the beam in a dual harmonic mode, operate a bunch splitting and create a longitudinal blow-up. The main benefits of this new LLRF are its full remote and cycle-to-cycle controllability, built-in observation capability and flexibility. The overall aim is to improve the robustness, maintainability and reliability of the PSB operation and to make it compatible with the injection from the future LINAC4. The chosen technology is an evolution of that successfully deployed in CERN's ion accumulator ring LEIR and it is based upon modular VME 64X hardware and extensive digital signal processing. This paper outlines the main characteristics of the software and hardware building blocks. Promising initial beam tests are shown and hints are included on the main milestones and future work.

• M. E. Angoletta, J. Bento, A. Blas, E. Bracke, A.C. Butterworth, F. Dubouchet, A. Findlay, F. Pedersen, J. Sanchez-Quesada
  CERN, Geneva

The Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) is an accumulation ring in the Large Hadron Collider ion injector chain. After its successful start in 2005, it has been running in three operational campaigns. The LEIR LLRF system is the first all-digital low-level RF (LLRF) system to be made operational in a CERN circular machine. Composed of modular VME 64X hardware, it carries out extensive digital signal processing via Field Programmable Gate Arrays and Digital Signal Processors. System capabilities include beam control tasks, such as frequency program, beam phase, radial and synchronization loops, as well as cavity voltage/phase loops. All the system's control parameters are fully configurable, remotely and in-between cycles; extensive built-in diagnostics and signal observation features are available. The system has proven to be not only flexible and powerful but also extremely reliable. This is very important as the LEIR LLRF system is the pilot project for the LLRF renovation of other CERN's machines. This paper gives an overview of the main system building blocks and outlines their capabilities and operational features, along with results obtained during the first years of beam operation.

• D. Quatraro, A. Findlay, B. Mikulec, G. Rumolo
  CERN, Geneva

Since many years the Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) high intensity beams have shown head-tail instabilities in all of the four rings at around 100 ms after the injection. In this paper we present the latest observations together with the evaluation of the instability rise time and its dependence on the bunch intensity. The acquired head-tail modes and the growth rates are compared with HEADTAIL numerical simulations, which together with the Sacherer theory points at the resistive wall impedance as a possible source of the instability.