• E.N. Shaposhnikova, G. Arduini, J. Axensalva, E. Benedetto, S. Calatroni, P. Chiggiato, K. Cornelis, P. Costa Pinto, B. Henrist, J.M. Jimenez, E. Mahner, G. Rumolo, M. Taborelli, C. Yin Vallgren
  CERN, Geneva

Electron cloud build-up is a major limitation for the operation of the SPS with LHC beam above nominal intensity. These beams are envisaged in the frame of the LHC luminosity upgrade and will be available from the new injectors LPSPL and PS2. A series of studies have been conducted in order to identify possible means to suppress electron multipacting by coating the existing SPS vacuum chambers with thin films of amorphous carbon. After a description of the experimental apparatus installed in the SPS, the results of the tests performed with beam in 2008 will be presented.

• J.A. Uythoven, J. Axensalva, V. Baggiolini, E. Carlier, E. Gallet, B. Goddard, V. Kain, M. Lamont, N. Magnin
  CERN, Geneva

After each beam dump in the LHC automatic post-operational checks are made to guarantee that the last beam dump has been executed correctly and that the system can be declared to be 'as good as new' before the next injection is allowed. The analysis scope comprises the kicker waveforms, redundancy in kicker generator signal paths and different beam instrumentation measurements. This paper describes the implementation and the operational experience of the internal and external post-operational checks of the LHC beam dumping system during the commissioning of the LHC without beam and during the first days of beam operation.