BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
The Relativistic Heavy Ions Collider (RHIC) would benefit from improved beam position measurements near the interaction points that see both beams, especially as the tolerances become tighter when reducing the beam sizes to obtain increased luminosity. Two limitations of the present beam position monitors (BPMs) would be mitigated if the proposed approach is successful. The small but unavoidable cross-talk between signals from bunches traveling in opposite directions when using conventional BPMs will be reduced by adopting directional BPMs. Further improvements will be achieved by cancelling residual cross-talk using pairs of such BPMs. Appropriately delayed addition and integration of the signals will also provide pulses with relatively flat maxima that will be easier to digitize by relaxing the presently very stringent timing requirements.
