Optics studies for the CERN proton synchrotron: linear and nonlinear modelling using beam based measurements

The CERN Proton Synchrotron machine is built using combined function magnets. The control of the linear tune as well as the chromaticity in both planes is achieved by means of special coils added to the main magnets, namely two pole-face-windings and one figure-of-eight loop. As a result, the overall magnetic field configuration is rather complex not to mention the saturation effects induced at top-energy. For these reasons a linear model of the PS main magnet does not provide sufficient precision to model particle dynamics. On the other hand, a sophisticated optical model is the key element for the foreseen intensity upgrade and, in particular, for the novel extraction mode based on adiabatic capture of beam particles inside stable islands in transverse phase space. A solution was found by performing accurate measurement of the nonlinear tune as a function of both amplitude and momentum offset so to extract both linear and nonlinear properties of the lattice. In this paper the measurement results are presented and the derived optical model is discussed in detail.