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The build up of an Electron Cloud (EC) has been observed at the CERN Proton Synchrotron (PS) during the last stages of the LHC high intensity beam preparation, especially after the bunch shortening before extraction. Two dedicated EC experiments, both equipped with two button pick-ups, a pressure gauge, a clearing electrode and a small dipole magnet, are available in two straight sections of the machine. A measurement campaign has been carried out, in order to scan the EC build-up of LHC-type beams with different bunch spacing, bunch intensity and bunch length. Such information, combined with the results from build up simulations, is of relevance for the characterization in terms of Secondary Emission Yield (SEY) of the chamber inner surface. The interest is twofold: this will enable us to predict the EC build up distribution in the PS for higher intensity beams in the frame of the upgrade program, and it will provide validation of the EC simulation models and codes.

As part of the ASACUSA (Atomic Spectroscopy And Collisions Using Slow Antiprotons) physics program a spin-flip cavity, for measurements of the ground-state hyperfine transition frequency of antihydrogen atoms, is needed. The purpose of the cavity is to excite antihydrogen atoms depending on their polarisation by a microwave field operating at 1.42 GHz. The delicacy of designing such a cavity lies in achieving and maintaining the required properties of this field over a large aperture of 10 cm and for a long period of time (required amplitude stability is 1% over 12 h). This paper presents the frequency fine tuning techniques developed to obtain the desired centre frequency of 1.42GHz with a Q value below 500 as well as the circuit used for the frequency sweep over a bandwidth of 6MHz.

During the past decade, intense experimental studies on the heavy-ion induced molecular desorption were performed in several particle accelerator laboratories worldwide in order to understand and overcome large dynamic pressure rises caused by lost beam ions. Different target materials and various coatings were studied for desorption and mitigation techniques were applied to heavy-ion accelerators. For the upgrade of the CERN injector complex, a coating of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) vacuum system with a thin film of amorphous carbon is under study to mitigate the electron cloud effect observed during SPS operation with the nominal proton beam for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Since the SPS is also part of the heavy-ion injector chain for LHC, dynamic vacuum studies of amorphous carbon films are important to determine their ion induced desorption yields. At the CERN Heavy Ion Accelerator (LINAC 3), carbon-coated accelerator-type stainless steel vacuum chambers were tested for desorption using 4.2 MeV/u Pb54+ ions. We describe the experimental setup and method, present the results for unbaked and baked films, and summarize surface characterizations such as secondary electron yield measurements, x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy studies. Finally, we present a high-energy scaling of lead-ion induced desorption yields from the MeV/u to GeV/u range.

During the past decade, intense experimental studies on the heavy-ion induced molecular desorption were performed in several particle accelerator laboratories worldwide in order to understand and overcome large dynamic pressure rises caused by lost beam ions. Different target materials and various coatings were studied for desorption and mitigation techniques were applied to heavy-ion accelerators. For the upgrade of the CERN injector complex, a coating of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) vacuum system with a thin film of amorphous carbon is under study to mitigate the electron cloud effect observed during SPS operation with the nominal proton beam for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Since the SPS is also part of the heavy-ion injector chain for LHC, dynamic vacuum studies of amorphous carbon films are important to determine their ion induced desorption yields. At the CERN Heavy Ion Accelerator (LINAC 3), carbon-coated accelerator-type stainless steel vacuum chambers were tested for desorption using 4.2 MeV/u Pb^{54+} ions. We describe the experimental setup and method, present the results for unbaked and baked films, and summarize surface characterizations such as secondary electron yield measurements, x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy studies. Finally, we present a high-energy scaling of lead-ion induced desorption yields from the MeV/u to GeV/u range.

CERN’s LHC injector chain will have to deliver beams with ultimate brilliance as the LHC is heading for increased luminosity in the coming years. In order to overcome bottlenecks in the injector chain, an increase of the beam transfer energy from the CERN Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) to the Proton Synchrotron (PS) has been investigated as a possible upgrade scenario. This paper gives an overview of the technical solutions and summarizes the conclusions of the feasibility study.

Linac 2 is presently supposed to remain the primary proton source to the entire CERN accelerator complex until 2017/18. The past, present, and future operation of the vacuum system has been recently reviewed [1]. During the last 33 years of operation the linac has developed several weaknesses including vacuum leaks, a major one being discovered in 2006 on tank 3. This note presents a risk analysis for the vacuum system with a focus on the vacuum sector comprising the three RF tanks.

This note aims to review the past, present, and future operation of CERN's Linac 2 vacuum system. The machine vacuum system layout with its major components is summarized. Operational problems arising in 2006 yielded to a leak test campaign of the whole machine, which detected a new, major leak on tank 3. Details about the mitigation of this leak are described as well as additional diagnostics installed during shutdown 2006/07. The pressure evolution of the most critical vacuum sector is analyzed. A statistics of vacuum system faults observed since 2000 is presented and compared with other systems. Finally, a perspective for the vacuum system operation until 2017/18 is outlined.

Following the Chamonix 2010 workshop a task force has been set up to study the feasibility and the impact of an energy upgrade of the PS Booster from the present 1.4 GeV to about 2 GeV. The working group has confirmed the feasibility of such an upgrade, and analysed in detail the impact on the accelerator hardware along with a cost estimate and a tentative planning. The outcome of the task force will be summarized, with particular emphasis on the remaining limitations, risks and uncertainties.

In the framework of the CERN accelerator complex upgrade program the construction of a new proton synchrotron (PS2) has been proposed. This paper summarizes the requirements and technical challenges for the PS2 vacuum system including dynamic vacuum effects as electron cloud and ion induced desorption. The PS2 vacuum system design is described comprising the machine sectorisation, the pumping system, vacuum instrumentation, and the bakeout system. Aspects on the interconnect design and machine impedance are discussed. A first vacuum chamber design for the PS2 main magnet system is presented.

The implementation of the new Multi-Turn Extraction (MTE) at the CERN Proton Synchrotron required major hardware changes for the nearly 50-year old accelerator. The installation of new Pulse Forming Networks (PFN) and refurbished kicker magnets for the extraction, new sextupole and octupole magnets, new power converters, together with an in-depth review of the machine aperture leading to the design of new vacuum chambers was required. As a result, a heavy programme of interventions had to be scheduled during the winter shut-down 2007-8. The newly installed hardware and its commissioning is presented and discussed in details.

Beam losses in high-energy particle accelerators are responsible for beam lifetime degradation. In the LHC beam losses will create a shower of particles while interacting with materials from the beam pipes and surroundings, resulting in a partial activation of material in the tunnel. Efforts have been made during the accelerator design to monitor and to reduce the activation induced by beam losses. Traceability for all vacuum components has been established providing a tool to follow-up individually each component or subcomponents installed in the tunnel, regardless of their future destination e.g. recycling or disposal. In the latter case, the history of vacuum components will allow calculating the beam-induced activation and permit comparisons with in-situ and ex-situ measurements. This zoning will also help to reduce collective and individual radiation doses to personnel during interventions. The paper presents the vacuum system layout and describes the LHC vacuum zoning and its implementation using an ORACLE© database.

Fast kicker magnets are used to inject beam into and eject beam out of the CERN SPS accelerator ring. These kickers are generally ferrite loaded transmission line type magnets with a rectangular shaped aperture through which the beam passes. Unless special precautions are taken the impedance of the ferrite yoke can provoke significant beam induced heating, over several hours, even above the Curie temperature of the ferrite. At present the nominal bunch spacing in the SPS is 25 ns, however for an early stage of LHC operation it is preferable to have 50 ns bunch spacing. Machine Development (MD) studies have been carried out with an inter-bunch spacing of 25 ns, 50 ns or 75 ns. For some of the SPS kicker magnets the 75 ns bunch spacing resulted in considerable beam induced heating. In addition the MDs showed that 50 ns bunch spacing could result in a very rapid pressure rise in the kicker magnet and thus cause an interlock. This paper discusses the MD observations of the SPS kickers and analyses the available data to provide explanations for the phenomena: possible remedies are also discussed.

Motivated by the discussions on scenarios for LHC upgrades, beam studies on the stability of flat bunches in a double-harmonic RF system have been conducted in the CERN Proton Synchrotron (PS). Injecting nearly nominal LHC beam intensity per cycle, 18 bunches are accelerated on harmonic h=21 to 26 GeV with the 10 MHz RF system. On the flat-top, all bunches are then transformed to flat bunches by adiabatically adding RF voltage at h=42 from a 20 MHz cavity in anti-phase to the h=21 system. The voltage ratio V(h42)/V(h21) of about 0.5 was set according to simulations. For the next 140 ms,longitudinal profiles show stable bunches in the double harmonic RF bucket until extraction. Without the second harmonic component, coupled-bunch oscillations are observed. The flatness of the bunches along the batch is analyzed as a measure of the relative phase error between the RF systems due to beam loading. Measurements of electron cloud effects induced by the beam are also discussed. The results of beam dynamics simulations and their comparison with the measured data are presented.

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.

Indications for a beam-induced electron cloud build-up are observed since 2000 for the nominal LHC beam in the PS to SPS transfer line and during the last turns before ejection from the PS. A new electron cloud setup was designed, built, and installed in the PS. It contains shielded button-type pickups, a dipole magnet, a vacuum gauge, and a dedicated stripline electrode to experimentally verify the beneficial effect of electron cloud clearing electrodes. During the 2007 run, the electron cloud effect was also clearly observed in the PS and efficient electron cloud suppression has been obtained for negative and positive bias voltages on the clearing electrode. Here, we present electron cloud measurements with different filling patterns and bunch spacings in the PS.

In the framework of HIPPI, a study for a Superconducting Proton Linac is being carried out at CERN. An integral part of the medium energy line is the chopper, which has to establish the required time structure of the beam by cutting out selected bunches from the continuous bunch train coming out of the RFQ. Due to the bunch spacing of 2.84 ns a system rise and fall time of 2 ns is required. A slow wave structure matched to the beam speed of 0.08c was chosen as the most promising candidate. This structure was implemented as a meander line printed on a ceramic substrate. The mechanical design as well as technological issues are discussed. Furthermore, the results of comprehensive tests on the prototype are reported.

The ion-induced desorption experiment, installed in the CERN Heavy Ion Accelerator LINAC 3, has been used to measure molecular desorption yields for 4.2 MeV/u lead ions impacting under grazing incidence on different accelerator-type vacuum chambers. Desorption yields for H2, CH4, CO, and CO2, which are of fundamental interest for future accelerator applications, are reported for different stainless steel surface treatments. In order to study the effect of the surface oxide layer on the gas desorption, gold-, silver-, palladium-, and getter-coated 316 LN stainless steel chambers and similarly prepared samples were tested for desorption at LINAC 3 and analysed for chemical composition by X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy (XPS). The large effective desorption yield of 2 x 104 molecules/Pb53+ ion, previously measured for uncoated, vacuum fired stainless steel, was reduced after noble-metal coating by up to 2 orders of magnitude. In addition, pressure rise measurements, the effectiveness of beam scrubbing with lead ions and the consequence of a subsequent venting on the desorption yields of a beam-scrubbed vacuum chamber are described. Practical consequences for the vacuum system of the future Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) are discussed.

The performance of the LHC as a heavy-ion collider will be limited by a diverse range of phenomena that are often qualitatively different from those limiting the performance with protons. We summarise the latest understanding and results concerning the consequences of nuclear electromagnetic processes in lead ion collisions, the interactions of ions with the residual gas and the effects of lost ions on the beam environment and vacuum. Besides these limitations on beam intensity, lifetime and luminosity, performance will be governed by the evolution of the beam emittances under the influences of synchrotron radiation damping, intra-beam scattering, RF noise and multiple scattering on residual gas. These effects constrain beam parameters in the LHC ring throughout the operational cycle with lead ions.

A sizeable part of the LHC physics programme foresees lead-lead collisions with a design luminosity of 1027 cm-2 s-1. This will be achieved after an upgrade of the ion injector chain comprising Linac3, LEIR, PS and SPS machines [1,2]. Each LHC ring will be filled in 10 min by almost 600 bunches, each of 7×107 lead ions. Central to the scheme is the Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) [3,4], which transforms long pulses from Linac3 into high-brilliance bunches by means of multi-turn injection, electron cooling and accumulation. Major limitations along the chain, including space charge, intrabeam scattering, vacuum issues and emittance preservation are highlighted. The conversion from LEAR (Low Energy Antiproton Ring) to LEIR involves new magnets and power converters, high-current electron cooling, broadband RF cavities, and a UHV vacuum system with getter (NEG) coatings to achieve a few 10-12 mbar. Major hardware changes in Linac3 and the PS are also covered. An early ion scheme with fewer bunches (but each at nominal intensity) reduces the work required for early LHC ion operation in spring 2008.

The ion-induced desorption experiment, installed in the CERN Heavy Ion Accelerator (LINAC 3), has been used to measure molecular desorption yields for 4.2 MeV/u lead ions impacting on different accelerator-type vacuum chambers. In order to study the effect of the surface oxide layer on the gas desorption, gold-, silver-, and palladium-coated 316LN stainless steel chambers and similarly prepared samples were tested for desorption at LINAC 3 and analysed for chemical composition by X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy (XPS). The large effective desorption yield of 2 x 10**4 molecules/ion, previously measured for uncoated, vacuum fired stainless steel, was reduced after noble metal coating by up to 2 orders of magnitude. In addition, the effectiveness of beam scrubbing with heavy ions and the consequence of a subsequent venting on the desorption yields of a beam-scrubbed vacuum chamber are described. Practical consequences for the vacuum system of the future Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) are discussed.

In preparation for the heavy ion program of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, accumulation and cooling tests with lead ion beams have been performed in the Low Energy Antiproton Ring (LEAR). These tests have revealed that due to the unexpected large outgassing of the vacuum system, the dynamic pressure of the ring could not be maintained low enough to reach the required beam intensities. To determine the actions necessary to lower the dynamic pressure rise, an experimental program has been initiated for measuring the molecular desorption yields of stainless steel vacuum chambers by the impact of 4.2 MeV/u lead ions with the charge states +27 and +53. The test chambers were exposed either at grazing or at perpendicular incidence. Different surface treatments (glow-discharges, non-evaporable getter coating) are reported in terms of the molecular desorption yields for H2, CH4, CO, Ar and CO2. Unexpected large values of molecular yields per incident ion up to 2 104 molecules/ion have been observed. The reduction of the ion-induced desorption yield due to continuous bombardment with lead ions (beam cleaning) has been investigated for five different stainless steel vacuum chambers. The implications of these results for the vacuum system of the future Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) and possible remedies to reduce the vacuum degradation are discussed.

Ion-induced gas desorption yields were investigated for 4.2 MeV/u lead ions incident on 316 LN stainless steel surfaces. Focussed on a possible application for the Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) vacuum system, the influence of surface treatments like chemical etching, electropolishing and gold-coating on the desorption yields was studied with accelerator-type vacuum chambers. The surface composition of similar prepared samples was investigated with X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy (XPS). Desorption yields for H2, CH4, CO, Ar and CO2, which are of fundamental interest for LEIR and future accelerator applications, are reported as a function of impact angle, ion dose and charge state (+27, +53) of the lead ion beam.

This report summarises the feasibility study of a neutron time-of-flight facility at the CERN-PS as described in Refs. [1] and [2]. The idea is to extract at 24 GeV/cproton bunches (r.m.s. length ~7 ns) on to a target. The neutrons produced by spallation are directed to an experimental area located 230 m downstream throughout a vacuum pipe (diameter ~80 cm) making use of the existing TT2A tunnel about 7 m below the ISR tunnel

The quadrupole resonator allows measurement of the RF properties of superconducting (sc) films deposited on disk-shaped metallic substrates. We describe the construction of the apparatus, the brazing and electron-beam welding procedures, the arrangements for compensating mechanical tolerances of samples and for assuring reproducible sample illumination. We explain the special features of the RF sy stem and give the results of field calculations with a 3D cavity code. Finally we present first measurements of Nb on Cu film samples and compare them with calibrations done with a bulk Nb sample.

A disk-shaped superconducting sample is welded onto an Nb support cylinder and exposed to the magnetic RF field of a four-wire transmission line resonator. The fields on the cylinder wall decay in a c ut-off like fashion in such a way that they perturb the measurement very little. RF dissipation of the disk is determined by substitution with a d.c. heater on the back of the sample which is made to produce the same temperature rise, controlled by thermometers.