IPAC2013 - List of Authors (Cornelis, K.)

Paper

Title

Page

CNGS, CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso, Five Years of Running a 500 Kilowatt Neutrino Beam Facility at CERN

211

E. Gschwendtner, K. Cornelis, I. Efthymiopoulos, A. Pardons, H. Vincke, J. Wenninger
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
I. Krätschmer
HEPHY, Wien, Austria

The CNGS facility (CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso) aims at directly detecting muon to tau neutrino oscillations where an intense muon-neutrino beam (10¹⁷ muon-neutrinos/day) is generated at CERN and directed over 732km towards the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, LNGS, in Italy, where two large and complex detectors, OPERA and ICARUS, are located. The CNGS facility (CNGS Neutrinos to Gran Sasso) started with the physics program in 2008 and delivered until the end of the physics run 2012 more than 80% of the approved protons on target (22.5·10¹⁹ pot). An overview of the performance and experience gained in operating this 500kW neutrino beam facility is described. Major events since the commissioning of the facility in 2006 are summarized. Highlights on the CNGS beam performance are given.

MOPFI050

Non-local Fast Extraction from the CERN SPS at 100 and 440 GeV

392

F.M. Velotti, A. Alekou, W. Bartmann, E. Carlier, K. Cornelis, I. Efthymiopoulos, B. Goddard, L.K. Jensen, V. Kain, M. Kowalska, V. Mertens, R. Steerenberg
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

The Long Straight Section 2 (LSS2) of the CERN SPS is connected with the North Area (NA), to which the beam to date has always been extracted using a resonant extraction technique. For new proposed short- and long-baseline neutrino experiments, a fast single turn extraction to this experimental area is required. As there are no kickers in LSS2, and the integration of any new kickers with the existing electrostatic septum would be problematic, a solution has been developed to fast extract the beam using non-local extraction with other SPS kickers. Two different kicker systems have been used, the injection kicker in LSS1 and the stronger extraction kicker in LSS6 to extract 100 and 440 GeV beam, respectively. For both solutions a large emittance beam was extracted after 5 or 9 full betatron periods. The concept and simulation details are presented with the analysis of the aperture and beam loss considerations and experimental results collected during a series of beam tests.

MOPFI052

A New Lead Ion Injection System for the CERN SPS with 50 ns Rise Time

398

B. Goddard, O. Aberle, J. Borburgh, E. Carlier, K. Cornelis, L. Ducimetière, L.K. Jensen, T. Kramer, D. Manglunki, A. Mereghetti, V. Mertens, D. Nisbet, B. Salvant, L. Sermeus
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

The LHC High Luminosity upgrade project includes a performance upgrade for heavy ions. One of the present performance limitations is the rise time of the SPS injection kicker system, which imposes a spacing of at least 220 ns between injected bunch trains at the operational rigidity. A reduction of this rise time to 50 ns for lead ions is requested as part of the suite of measures needed to increase the present design performance by a factor three. A new injection system based on a fast pulsed septum and a fast kicker has been proposed to fulfil this rise time requirement, and to meet all the constraints associated with the existing high intensity proton injection in the same region. This paper describes the concept and the required equipment parameters, and explores the implications of such a system for SPS operation.

MOPFI053

Upgrades of the SPS, Transfer Line and LHC Injection Protection Devices for the HL-LHC Era

401

Ö. Mete, O. Aberle, F. Cerutti, K. Cornelis, B. Goddard, V. Kain, R. Losito, F.L. Maciariello, M. Meddahi, A. Mereghetti, J.A. Uythoven, F.M. Velotti
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
E. Gianfelice-Wendt
Fermilab, Batavia, USA

The challenging High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) beam requirements will lead in the future to unprecedented beam parameters along the LHC injector chain. In the SPS accelerator these requests translate into about a factor two higher intensity and brightness than the present design performance. In addition to the challenge of producing and accelerating such beams, these parameters affect the resistance of the existing equipment against beam impact. Most of the protection devices in the SPS ring, its transfer lines and the LHC injection areas will be put under operational constraints which are beyond their design specification. The equipment concerned has been reviewed and their resistance to the HL-LHC beams checked. Theoretical and simulation studies have been performed for the SPS beam scraping system, the protection devices and the dump absorbers of the SPS-to-LHC transfer lines, as well as for the LHC injection protection devices. The first results of these studies are reported, together with the future prospects.

MOPWO032

SPS Scraping and LHC Transverse Tails

957

L.N. Drøsdal, K. Cornelis, B. Goddard, V. Kain, M. Meddahi, Ö. Mete, B. Salvachua, G. Valentino, E. Veyrunes
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

All high-intensity LHC beams have to be scraped before extraction from the SPS to remove the non-Gaussian transverse tails of the particle distributions. The tail particles would otherwise cause unacceptably high losses during injection or other phases of the LHC cycle. Studies have been carried out to quantify the scraping using injection losses and emittance measurements from wire scanners as diagnostics. Beams scraped in the SPS were scraped again in the LHC with collimators to investigate possible tail repopulation. The results of these studies will be presented in this paper.

TUPME046

Performance of SPS Low Transition Energy Optics for LHC Ion Beams

1667

F. Antoniou, G. Arduini, H. Bartosik, T. Bohl, S. Cettour Cave, K. Cornelis, D. Manglunki, Y. Papaphilippou
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

An optics with low transition energy has been developed in the SPS for removing intensity limitations of the LHC proton beam and has become operational towards the second part of the 2012 LHC proton run. This optics was also used for filling the LHC with lead ions during the p/Pb run of the beginning of 2013. The impact of this optics in the performance of the LHC ion beam is studied here, especially with respect to collective effects, at the SPS injection energy. In particular, the potential gain of the increased beam sizes provided by this optics, with respect to losses and emittance blow up due to space-charge and Intrabeam Scattering (IBS) is evaluated. The measured lifetime is compared with the one provided by the Touschek effect and its interplay with RF noise is studied. The models are supported by measurements in the SPS and in the LHC flat bottom.

TUPME060

Tune Studies with Beam-Beam Effects in LHC

1703

S. Paret, J. Qiang
LBNL, Berkeley, California, USA
R. Alemany-Fernandez, X. Buffat, R. Calaga, K. Cornelis, M. Fitterer, R. Giachino, W. Herr, A. Macpherson, G. Papotti, T. Pieloni, S. Redaelli, F. Roncarolo, M. Schaumann, R. Suykerbuyk, G. Trad
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
R. Miyamoto
ESS, Lund, Sweden

Funding: This work was partially supported by the U.S. LARP and the NERSC of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.
In high brightness colliders, the tune spread due to the collisions has a significant impact on the quality of the beams. The impact of the working point on emittance growth and beam lifetime has been observed in beam experiments in LHC. Strong-strong beam-beam simulations that were accomplished to better understand such observations are shown. Compared to experiments, wide ranged parameter scans can be done easily. Tune footprints and scans of the emittance growth obtained from simulations are discussed. Three cases are considered: Very high intensity, moderate intensity and collisions with separated beams.

WEPEA053

Progress with the Upgrade of the SPS for the HL-LHC Era

2624

B. Goddard, T. Argyropoulos, W. Bartmann, H. Bartosik, T. Bohl, F. Caspers, K. Cornelis, H. Damerau, L.N. Drøsdal, L. Ducimetière, J.F. Esteban Müller, R. Garoby, M. Gourber-Pace, W. Höfle, G. Iadarola, L.K. Jensen, V. Kain, R. Losito, M. Meddahi, A. Mereghetti, V. Mertens, Ö. Mete, E. Montesinos, Y. Papaphilippou, G. Rumolo, B. Salvant, E.N. Shaposhnikova, M. Taborelli, H. Timko, F.M. Velotti
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
E. Gianfelice-Wendt
Fermilab, Batavia, USA

The demanding beam performance requirements of the HL-LHC project translate into a set of requirements and upgrade paths for the LHC injector complex. In this paper the performance requirements for the SPS and the known limitations are reviewed in the light of the 2012 operational experience. The various SPS upgrades in progress and still under consideration are described, in addition to the machine studies and simulations performed in 2012. The expected machine performance reach is estimated on the basis of the present knowledge, and the remaining decisions that still need to be made concerning upgrade options are detailed.

WEPEA061

The First LHC p-Pb run: Performance of the Heavy Ion Production Complex

2648

D. Manglunki, M. E. Angoletta, H. Bartosik, G. Bellodi, A. Blas, M.A. Bodendorfer, T. Bohl, C. Carli, E. Carlier, S. Cettour Cave, K. Cornelis, H. Damerau, A. Findlay, S.S. Gilardoni, S. Hancock, J.M. Jowett, D. Kuchler, M. O'Neil, Y. Papaphilippou, S. Pasinelli, R. Scrivens, G. Tranquille, B. Vandorpe, U. Wehrle, J. Wenninger
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

TThe first LHC proton-ion run took place in January-February 2013; it was the first extension to the collider programme, as this mode was not included in the design report. This paper presents the performance of the heavy ion and proton production complex, and details the issues encountered, in particular the creation of the same bunch pattern in both beams.

THOBB102

Beam Coupling Impedance Localization Technique Validation and Measurements in the CERN Machines

3106

N. Biancacci, G. Arduini, T. Argyropoulos, H. Bartosik, R. Calaga, K. Cornelis, S.S. Gilardoni, N. Mounet, E. Métral, Y. Papaphilippou, S. Persichelli, G. Rumolo, B. Salvant, G. Sterbini, R. Tomás, R. Wasef
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
M. Migliorati, L. Palumbo
URLS, Rome, Italy

The beam coupling impedance could lead to limitations in beam brightness and quality, and therefore it needs accurate quantification and continuous monitoring in order to detect and mitigate high impedance sources. In the CERN machines, for example, kickers and collimators are expected to be the main contributors to the total imaginary part of the transverse impedance. In order to detect the other sources, a beam based measurement was developed: from the variation of betatron phase beating with intensity, it is possible to detect the locations of main impedance sources. In this work we present the application of the method with beam measurements in the CERN PS, SPS and LHC.

Slides THOBB102 [7.224 MB]

THPEA040

Design of a Magnetic Bump Tail Scraping System for the CERN SPS

3228

Ö. Mete, J. Bauche, F. Cerutti, S. Cettour Cave, K. Cornelis, L.N. Drøsdal, F. Galleazzi, B. Goddard, L.K. Jensen, V. Kain, Y. Le Borgne, G. Le Godec, M. Meddahi, E. Veyrunes, H. Vincke, J. Wenninger
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
A. Mereghetti
UMAN, Manchester, United Kingdom

The LHC injectors are being upgraded to meet the demanding beam specification required for High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) operation. In order to reduce the beam losses which can trigger the sensitive LHC beam loss interlocks during the SPS-to-LHC beam injection process, it is important that the beam tails are properly scraped away in the SPS. The current SPS tail cleaning system relies on a moveable scraper blade, with the positioning of the scraper adjusted over time according to the orbit variations of the SPS. A new robust beam tail cleaning system has been designed which will use a fixed scraper block towards which the beam will be moved by a local magnetic orbit bump. The design proposal is presented, together with the related beam dynamics studies and results from machine studies with beam.

THPFI055

First Year of Operations in the HiRadMat Irradiation Facility at CERN

3415

A. Fabich, N. Charitonidis, N. Conan, K. Cornelis, D. DePaoli, I. Efthymiopoulos, S. Evrard, H. Gaillard, J.L. Grenard, M. Lazzaroni, A. Pardons, Y.D.R. Seraphin, C. Theis, K. Weiss
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
N. Charitonidis
EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland

HiRadMat (High Irradiation to Materials) is a new facility at CERN constructed in 2011, designed to provide high-intensity pulsed beams to an irradiation area where material samples as well as accelerator component assemblies can be tested. The facility uses a 440 GeV proton beam extracted from the CERN SPS with a pulse length of 7.2 μs, to maximum pulse energy of 3.4MJ. For 2012, the first year of operations of the facility, nine experiments were scheduled and completed data-taking successfully. The experience gained in operating this unique facility, along with highlights of the experiments and the instrumentation developed for online measurements are reported.

THPWO080

Operational Performance of the LHC Proton Beams with the SPS Low Transition Energy Optics

3945

Y. Papaphilippou, G. Arduini, T. Argyropoulos, W. Bartmann, H. Bartosik, T. Bohl, C. Bracco, S. Cettour-Cave, K. Cornelis, L.N. Drøsdal, J.F. Esteban Müller, B. Goddard, A. Guerrero, W. Höfle, V. Kain, G. Rumolo, B. Salvant, E.N. Shaposhnikova, H. Timko, D. Valuch, G. Vanbavinckhove, J. Wenninger
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
E. Gianfelice-Wendt
Fermilab, Batavia, USA

An optics in the SPS with lower integer tunes (20 versus 26) was proposed and introduced in machine studies since 2010, as a measure for increasing transverse and longitudinal instability thresholds, especially at low energy, for the LHC proton beams. After two years of machine studies and careful optimisation, the new “Q20” optics became operational in September 2012 and steadily delivered beam to the LHC until the end of the run. This paper reviews the operational performance of the Q20 optics with respect to transverse and longitudinal beam characteristics in the SPS, enabling high brightness beams injected into the LHC. Aspects of longitudinal beam stability, transmission, high-energy orbit control and beam transfer are discussed.

Paper	Title	Page
MOPEA058	CNGS, CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso, Five Years of Running a 500 Kilowatt Neutrino Beam Facility at CERN	211
	E. Gschwendtner, K. Cornelis, I. Efthymiopoulos, A. Pardons, H. Vincke, J. Wenninger CERN, Geneva, Switzerland I. Krätschmer HEPHY, Wien, Austria
	The CNGS facility (CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso) aims at directly detecting muon to tau neutrino oscillations where an intense muon-neutrino beam (10¹⁷ muon-neutrinos/day) is generated at CERN and directed over 732km towards the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, LNGS, in Italy, where two large and complex detectors, OPERA and ICARUS, are located. The CNGS facility (CNGS Neutrinos to Gran Sasso) started with the physics program in 2008 and delivered until the end of the physics run 2012 more than 80% of the approved protons on target (22.5·10¹⁹ pot). An overview of the performance and experience gained in operating this 500kW neutrino beam facility is described. Major events since the commissioning of the facility in 2006 are summarized. Highlights on the CNGS beam performance are given.

MOPFI050	Non-local Fast Extraction from the CERN SPS at 100 and 440 GeV	392
	F.M. Velotti, A. Alekou, W. Bartmann, E. Carlier, K. Cornelis, I. Efthymiopoulos, B. Goddard, L.K. Jensen, V. Kain, M. Kowalska, V. Mertens, R. Steerenberg CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	The Long Straight Section 2 (LSS2) of the CERN SPS is connected with the North Area (NA), to which the beam to date has always been extracted using a resonant extraction technique. For new proposed short- and long-baseline neutrino experiments, a fast single turn extraction to this experimental area is required. As there are no kickers in LSS2, and the integration of any new kickers with the existing electrostatic septum would be problematic, a solution has been developed to fast extract the beam using non-local extraction with other SPS kickers. Two different kicker systems have been used, the injection kicker in LSS1 and the stronger extraction kicker in LSS6 to extract 100 and 440 GeV beam, respectively. For both solutions a large emittance beam was extracted after 5 or 9 full betatron periods. The concept and simulation details are presented with the analysis of the aperture and beam loss considerations and experimental results collected during a series of beam tests.

MOPFI052	A New Lead Ion Injection System for the CERN SPS with 50 ns Rise Time	398
	B. Goddard, O. Aberle, J. Borburgh, E. Carlier, K. Cornelis, L. Ducimetière, L.K. Jensen, T. Kramer, D. Manglunki, A. Mereghetti, V. Mertens, D. Nisbet, B. Salvant, L. Sermeus CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	The LHC High Luminosity upgrade project includes a performance upgrade for heavy ions. One of the present performance limitations is the rise time of the SPS injection kicker system, which imposes a spacing of at least 220 ns between injected bunch trains at the operational rigidity. A reduction of this rise time to 50 ns for lead ions is requested as part of the suite of measures needed to increase the present design performance by a factor three. A new injection system based on a fast pulsed septum and a fast kicker has been proposed to fulfil this rise time requirement, and to meet all the constraints associated with the existing high intensity proton injection in the same region. This paper describes the concept and the required equipment parameters, and explores the implications of such a system for SPS operation.

MOPFI053	Upgrades of the SPS, Transfer Line and LHC Injection Protection Devices for the HL-LHC Era	401
	Ö. Mete, O. Aberle, F. Cerutti, K. Cornelis, B. Goddard, V. Kain, R. Losito, F.L. Maciariello, M. Meddahi, A. Mereghetti, J.A. Uythoven, F.M. Velotti CERN, Geneva, Switzerland E. Gianfelice-Wendt Fermilab, Batavia, USA
	The challenging High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) beam requirements will lead in the future to unprecedented beam parameters along the LHC injector chain. In the SPS accelerator these requests translate into about a factor two higher intensity and brightness than the present design performance. In addition to the challenge of producing and accelerating such beams, these parameters affect the resistance of the existing equipment against beam impact. Most of the protection devices in the SPS ring, its transfer lines and the LHC injection areas will be put under operational constraints which are beyond their design specification. The equipment concerned has been reviewed and their resistance to the HL-LHC beams checked. Theoretical and simulation studies have been performed for the SPS beam scraping system, the protection devices and the dump absorbers of the SPS-to-LHC transfer lines, as well as for the LHC injection protection devices. The first results of these studies are reported, together with the future prospects.

MOPWO032	SPS Scraping and LHC Transverse Tails	957
	L.N. Drøsdal, K. Cornelis, B. Goddard, V. Kain, M. Meddahi, Ö. Mete, B. Salvachua, G. Valentino, E. Veyrunes CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	All high-intensity LHC beams have to be scraped before extraction from the SPS to remove the non-Gaussian transverse tails of the particle distributions. The tail particles would otherwise cause unacceptably high losses during injection or other phases of the LHC cycle. Studies have been carried out to quantify the scraping using injection losses and emittance measurements from wire scanners as diagnostics. Beams scraped in the SPS were scraped again in the LHC with collimators to investigate possible tail repopulation. The results of these studies will be presented in this paper.

TUPME046	Performance of SPS Low Transition Energy Optics for LHC Ion Beams	1667
	F. Antoniou, G. Arduini, H. Bartosik, T. Bohl, S. Cettour Cave, K. Cornelis, D. Manglunki, Y. Papaphilippou CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	An optics with low transition energy has been developed in the SPS for removing intensity limitations of the LHC proton beam and has become operational towards the second part of the 2012 LHC proton run. This optics was also used for filling the LHC with lead ions during the p/Pb run of the beginning of 2013. The impact of this optics in the performance of the LHC ion beam is studied here, especially with respect to collective effects, at the SPS injection energy. In particular, the potential gain of the increased beam sizes provided by this optics, with respect to losses and emittance blow up due to space-charge and Intrabeam Scattering (IBS) is evaluated. The measured lifetime is compared with the one provided by the Touschek effect and its interplay with RF noise is studied. The models are supported by measurements in the SPS and in the LHC flat bottom.

TUPME060	Tune Studies with Beam-Beam Effects in LHC	1703
	S. Paret, J. Qiang LBNL, Berkeley, California, USA R. Alemany-Fernandez, X. Buffat, R. Calaga, K. Cornelis, M. Fitterer, R. Giachino, W. Herr, A. Macpherson, G. Papotti, T. Pieloni, S. Redaelli, F. Roncarolo, M. Schaumann, R. Suykerbuyk, G. Trad CERN, Geneva, Switzerland R. Miyamoto ESS, Lund, Sweden
	Funding: This work was partially supported by the U.S. LARP and the NERSC of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. In high brightness colliders, the tune spread due to the collisions has a significant impact on the quality of the beams. The impact of the working point on emittance growth and beam lifetime has been observed in beam experiments in LHC. Strong-strong beam-beam simulations that were accomplished to better understand such observations are shown. Compared to experiments, wide ranged parameter scans can be done easily. Tune footprints and scans of the emittance growth obtained from simulations are discussed. Three cases are considered: Very high intensity, moderate intensity and collisions with separated beams.

WEPEA053	Progress with the Upgrade of the SPS for the HL-LHC Era	2624
	B. Goddard, T. Argyropoulos, W. Bartmann, H. Bartosik, T. Bohl, F. Caspers, K. Cornelis, H. Damerau, L.N. Drøsdal, L. Ducimetière, J.F. Esteban Müller, R. Garoby, M. Gourber-Pace, W. Höfle, G. Iadarola, L.K. Jensen, V. Kain, R. Losito, M. Meddahi, A. Mereghetti, V. Mertens, Ö. Mete, E. Montesinos, Y. Papaphilippou, G. Rumolo, B. Salvant, E.N. Shaposhnikova, M. Taborelli, H. Timko, F.M. Velotti CERN, Geneva, Switzerland E. Gianfelice-Wendt Fermilab, Batavia, USA
	The demanding beam performance requirements of the HL-LHC project translate into a set of requirements and upgrade paths for the LHC injector complex. In this paper the performance requirements for the SPS and the known limitations are reviewed in the light of the 2012 operational experience. The various SPS upgrades in progress and still under consideration are described, in addition to the machine studies and simulations performed in 2012. The expected machine performance reach is estimated on the basis of the present knowledge, and the remaining decisions that still need to be made concerning upgrade options are detailed.

WEPEA061	The First LHC p-Pb run: Performance of the Heavy Ion Production Complex	2648
	D. Manglunki, M. E. Angoletta, H. Bartosik, G. Bellodi, A. Blas, M.A. Bodendorfer, T. Bohl, C. Carli, E. Carlier, S. Cettour Cave, K. Cornelis, H. Damerau, A. Findlay, S.S. Gilardoni, S. Hancock, J.M. Jowett, D. Kuchler, M. O'Neil, Y. Papaphilippou, S. Pasinelli, R. Scrivens, G. Tranquille, B. Vandorpe, U. Wehrle, J. Wenninger CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	TThe first LHC proton-ion run took place in January-February 2013; it was the first extension to the collider programme, as this mode was not included in the design report. This paper presents the performance of the heavy ion and proton production complex, and details the issues encountered, in particular the creation of the same bunch pattern in both beams.

THOBB102	Beam Coupling Impedance Localization Technique Validation and Measurements in the CERN Machines	3106
	N. Biancacci, G. Arduini, T. Argyropoulos, H. Bartosik, R. Calaga, K. Cornelis, S.S. Gilardoni, N. Mounet, E. Métral, Y. Papaphilippou, S. Persichelli, G. Rumolo, B. Salvant, G. Sterbini, R. Tomás, R. Wasef CERN, Geneva, Switzerland M. Migliorati, L. Palumbo URLS, Rome, Italy
	The beam coupling impedance could lead to limitations in beam brightness and quality, and therefore it needs accurate quantification and continuous monitoring in order to detect and mitigate high impedance sources. In the CERN machines, for example, kickers and collimators are expected to be the main contributors to the total imaginary part of the transverse impedance. In order to detect the other sources, a beam based measurement was developed: from the variation of betatron phase beating with intensity, it is possible to detect the locations of main impedance sources. In this work we present the application of the method with beam measurements in the CERN PS, SPS and LHC.
	Slides THOBB102 [7.224 MB]

THPEA040	Design of a Magnetic Bump Tail Scraping System for the CERN SPS	3228
	Ö. Mete, J. Bauche, F. Cerutti, S. Cettour Cave, K. Cornelis, L.N. Drøsdal, F. Galleazzi, B. Goddard, L.K. Jensen, V. Kain, Y. Le Borgne, G. Le Godec, M. Meddahi, E. Veyrunes, H. Vincke, J. Wenninger CERN, Geneva, Switzerland A. Mereghetti UMAN, Manchester, United Kingdom
	The LHC injectors are being upgraded to meet the demanding beam specification required for High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) operation. In order to reduce the beam losses which can trigger the sensitive LHC beam loss interlocks during the SPS-to-LHC beam injection process, it is important that the beam tails are properly scraped away in the SPS. The current SPS tail cleaning system relies on a moveable scraper blade, with the positioning of the scraper adjusted over time according to the orbit variations of the SPS. A new robust beam tail cleaning system has been designed which will use a fixed scraper block towards which the beam will be moved by a local magnetic orbit bump. The design proposal is presented, together with the related beam dynamics studies and results from machine studies with beam.

THPFI055	First Year of Operations in the HiRadMat Irradiation Facility at CERN	3415
	A. Fabich, N. Charitonidis, N. Conan, K. Cornelis, D. DePaoli, I. Efthymiopoulos, S. Evrard, H. Gaillard, J.L. Grenard, M. Lazzaroni, A. Pardons, Y.D.R. Seraphin, C. Theis, K. Weiss CERN, Geneva, Switzerland N. Charitonidis EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
	HiRadMat (High Irradiation to Materials) is a new facility at CERN constructed in 2011, designed to provide high-intensity pulsed beams to an irradiation area where material samples as well as accelerator component assemblies can be tested. The facility uses a 440 GeV proton beam extracted from the CERN SPS with a pulse length of 7.2 μs, to maximum pulse energy of 3.4MJ. For 2012, the first year of operations of the facility, nine experiments were scheduled and completed data-taking successfully. The experience gained in operating this unique facility, along with highlights of the experiments and the instrumentation developed for online measurements are reported.

THPWO080	Operational Performance of the LHC Proton Beams with the SPS Low Transition Energy Optics	3945
	Y. Papaphilippou, G. Arduini, T. Argyropoulos, W. Bartmann, H. Bartosik, T. Bohl, C. Bracco, S. Cettour-Cave, K. Cornelis, L.N. Drøsdal, J.F. Esteban Müller, B. Goddard, A. Guerrero, W. Höfle, V. Kain, G. Rumolo, B. Salvant, E.N. Shaposhnikova, H. Timko, D. Valuch, G. Vanbavinckhove, J. Wenninger CERN, Geneva, Switzerland E. Gianfelice-Wendt Fermilab, Batavia, USA
	An optics in the SPS with lower integer tunes (20 versus 26) was proposed and introduced in machine studies since 2010, as a measure for increasing transverse and longitudinal instability thresholds, especially at low energy, for the LHC proton beams. After two years of machine studies and careful optimisation, the new “Q20” optics became operational in September 2012 and steadily delivered beam to the LHC until the end of the run. This paper reviews the operational performance of the Q20 optics with respect to transverse and longitudinal beam characteristics in the SPS, enabling high brightness beams injected into the LHC. Aspects of longitudinal beam stability, transmission, high-energy orbit control and beam transfer are discussed.