IPAC2013 - List of Authors (Rumolo, G.)

Paper

Title

Page

Electron Cloud and Scrubbing Studies for the LHC

1331

G. Iadarola
Naples University Federico II, Science and Technology Pole, Napoli, Italy
G. Arduini, V. Baglin, H. Bartosik, C.O. Domínguez, J.F. Esteban Müller, G. Iadarola, G. Rumolo, E.N. Shaposhnikova, L.J. Tavian, F. Zimmermann
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
C.O. Domínguez
EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
G.H.I. Maury Cuna
CINVESTAV, Mexico City, Mexico

Electron cloud build-up resulting from beam-induced multipacting is one of the major limitations for the operation of the LHC with beams with close bunch spacing. Electron clouds induce unwanted pressure rise, heat loads on the beam screens of the superconducting magnets and beam instabilities. Operation with bunch spacing of 50 ns in 2011 and 2012 has required decreasing the Secondary Electron Yield of the beam screens below the multipacting threshold for beams with this bunch spacing. This was achieved by continuous electron bombardment induced by operating the machine with high intensity beams with 50 and 25 ns spacing during dedicated periods at injection energy (450 GeV) and at top energy (3.5 and 4 TeV). The evolution of the Secondary Electron Yield during these periods, at different sections of the machine, can be estimated by pressure, heat load and by bunch-by-bunch RF stable phase measurements. The experimental information on the scrubbing process will be discussed and a possible “scrubbing strategy” to allow the operation with 50ns and 25ns beams after the Long Shutdown in 2013-2014 will be presented.

TUPME032

Update on Beam Induced RF Heating in the LHC

1646

B. Salvant, O. Aberle, G. Arduini, R.W. Aßmann, V. Baglin, M.J. Barnes, W. Bartmann, P. Baudrenghien, O.E. Berrig, A. Bertarelli, C. Bracco, E. Bravin, G. Bregliozzi, R. Bruce, F. Carra, F. Caspers, G. Cattenoz, S.D. Claudet, H.A. Day, M. Deile, J.F. Esteban Müller, P. Fassnacht, M. Garlaschè, L. Gentini, B. Goddard, A. Grudiev, B. Henrist, S. Jakobsen, O.R. Jones, O. Kononenko, G. Lanza, L. Lari, T. Mastoridis, V. Mertens, N. Mounet, E. Métral, A.A. Nosych, J.L. Nougaret, S. Persichelli, A.M. Piguiet, S. Redaelli, F. Roncarolo, G. Rumolo, B. Salvachua, M. Sapinski, R. Schmidt, E.N. Shaposhnikova, L.J. Tavian, M.A. Timmins, J.A. Uythoven, A. Vidal, J. Wenninger, D. Wollmann, M. Zerlauth
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
H.A. Day
UMAN, Manchester, United Kingdom
L. Lari
IFIC, Valencia, Spain

Since June 2011, the rapid increase of the luminosity performance of the LHC has come at the expense of increased temperature and pressure readings on specific near-beam LHC equipment. In some cases, this beam induced heating has caused delays whilie equipment cools down, beam dumps and even degradation of these devices. This contribution gathers the observations of beam induced heating attributable to beam coupling impedance, their current level of understanding and possible actions that are planned to be implemented during the long shutdown in 2013-2014.

TUPME034

Experimental Studies for Future LHC Beams in the SPS

1652

H. Bartosik, T. Argyropoulos, T. Bohl, S. Cettour-Cave, J.F. Esteban Müller, W. Höfle, G. Iadarola, Y. Papaphilippou, G. Rumolo, B. Salvant, F. Schmidt, E.N. Shaposhnikova, H. Timko
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
A.Y. Molodozhentsev
KEK, Ibaraki, Japan

The High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) project requires significantly higher beam intensity than presently accessible in the LHC injector chain. The aim of the LHC injectors upgrade project (LIU) is to prepare the CERN accelerators for the future needs of the LHC. Therefore a series of machine studies with high brightness beams were performed, assessing the present performance reach and identifying remaining limitations. Of particular concern are beam loading and longitudinal instabilities at high energy, space charge for beams with 50ns bunch spacing and electron cloud effects for beams with 25ns bunch spacing. This paper provides a summary of the performed studies, that have been possible thanks to the implementation of the SPS low gamma-transition optics.

WEPEA013

Electron Cloud Studies for the Upgrade of the CERN PS

2522

G. Iadarola
Naples University Federico II, Science and Technology Pole, Napoli, Italy
H. Damerau, S.S. Gilardoni, G. Iadarola, S. Rioja Fuentelsaz, G. Rumolo, G. Sterbini, C. Yin Vallgren
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
M.T.F. Pivi
SLAC, Menlo Park, California, USA

The observation of a significant dynamic pressure rise as well as measurements with dedicated detectors indicate that an electron cloud develops in the CERN PS during the last stages of the RF manipulations for the production of LHC type beams, especially with 25ns bunch spacing. Although presently these beams are not degraded by the interaction with the electron cloud, which develops only during few milliseconds before extraction, the question if this effect could degrade the future high intensity and high brightness beams foreseen by the LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU) project is still open. Therefore several studies are being carried out employing both simulations and measurements with the electron cloud detectors in the machine. The aim is to develop a reliable electron cloud model of the PS vacuum chambers in order to identify possible future limitations and find suitable countermeasures.

WEPEA014

Recent Electron Cloud Studies in the SPS

2525

G. Iadarola, H. Bartosik, M. Driss Mensi, H. Neupert, G. Rumolo, M. Taborelli
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
G. Iadarola
Naples University Federico II, Science and Technology Pole, Napoli, Italy

It is important to qualify the present status of the SPS with respect to the electron cloud before the Long Shutdown of the CERN accelerator complex, which will take place in 2013-2014. Therefore several electron cloud studies were performed during the 2012 run in order to get a full characterization of the behavior of the SPS with the LHC-type beams with 25 ns bunch spacing, which can be very sensitive to electron cloud effects. The collected information should allow to understand up to which extent this long period without beam operation - and the related interventions on the machine - will degrade the present conditioning state of the SPS, which has been achieved by “scrubbing” over several years. Several measurements with different beam conditions have been collected also on the electron cloud detectors installed in the machine. These results, in combination with detailed simulation studies, will provide the basis for defining strategies of electron cloud mitigation as required for the production of future high intensity and high brightness beams within the LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU) project.

WEPEA042

The PS Upgrade Programme: Recent Advances

2594

S.S. Gilardoni, S. Bart Pedersen, C. Bertone, N. Biancacci, A. Blas, D. Bodart, J. Borburgh, P. Chiggiato, H. Damerau, S. Damjanovic, J.D. Devine, T. Dobers, M. Gourber-Pace, S. Hancock, A. Huschauer, G. Iadarola, L.A. Lopez Hernandez, A. Masi, S. Mataguez, E. Métral, M.M. Paoluzzi, S. Persichelli, S. Pittet, S. Roesler, C. Rossi, G. Rumolo, B. Salvant, R. Steerenberg, G. Sterbini, L. Ventura, J. Vollaire, R. Wasef, C. Yin Vallgren
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
M. Migliorati
University of Rome "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy

The LHC Injectors Upgrade project (LIU) has been initiated to improve the performances of the existing injector complex at CERN to match the future requirements of the HL-LHC. In this framework, the Proton Synchrotron (PS) will undergo fundamental changes for many of its main systems: the injection energy will be increased to reduce space-charge effects, the transverse damper will be improved to cope with transverse instabilities the RF systems will be upgraded to accelerate higher beam intensity and brightness. These hardware improvements are triggered by a series of studies meant to identify the most critical performance bottlenecks, like space charge, impedances, longitudinal and transverse instabilities, as well as electron-cloud. Additionally, alternative production schemes for the LHC-type beams have been proposed and implemented to circumvent some of the present limitations. A summary of the most recent advances of the studies, as well as the proposed hardware improvements is given.

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.

WEPME042

Modelling and Studies for a Wideband Feedback System for Mitigation of Transverse Single Bunch Instabilities

3019

K.S.B. Li, W. Höfle, G. Rumolo
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
J.M. Cesaratto, J.E. Dusatko, J.D. Fox, M.T.F. Pivi, K.M. Pollock, C.H. Rivetta, O. Turgut
SLAC, Menlo Park, California, USA

As part of the LHC injector upgrade a wideband feedback system is under study for mitigation of coherent single bunch instabilities. This type of system may provide a generic way of shifting the instability threshold to regions that are currently inaccessible, thus, boosting the brightness of future beams. To study the effectiveness of such systems, a numerical model has been developed that constitutes a realistic feedback system including real transfer functions for pickup and kicker, realistic N-tap FIR and IIR filters as well as noise and saturation effects. Simulations of SPS cases have been performed with HeadTail to evaluate the feedback effectiveness in the presence of electron clouds and TMCI. Some results are presented addressing bandwidth limitations, noise issues and amplifier power requirements.

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]

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
TUPFI002	Electron Cloud and Scrubbing Studies for the LHC	1331
	G. Iadarola Naples University Federico II, Science and Technology Pole, Napoli, Italy G. Arduini, V. Baglin, H. Bartosik, C.O. Domínguez, J.F. Esteban Müller, G. Iadarola, G. Rumolo, E.N. Shaposhnikova, L.J. Tavian, F. Zimmermann CERN, Geneva, Switzerland C.O. Domínguez EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland G.H.I. Maury Cuna CINVESTAV, Mexico City, Mexico
	Electron cloud build-up resulting from beam-induced multipacting is one of the major limitations for the operation of the LHC with beams with close bunch spacing. Electron clouds induce unwanted pressure rise, heat loads on the beam screens of the superconducting magnets and beam instabilities. Operation with bunch spacing of 50 ns in 2011 and 2012 has required decreasing the Secondary Electron Yield of the beam screens below the multipacting threshold for beams with this bunch spacing. This was achieved by continuous electron bombardment induced by operating the machine with high intensity beams with 50 and 25 ns spacing during dedicated periods at injection energy (450 GeV) and at top energy (3.5 and 4 TeV). The evolution of the Secondary Electron Yield during these periods, at different sections of the machine, can be estimated by pressure, heat load and by bunch-by-bunch RF stable phase measurements. The experimental information on the scrubbing process will be discussed and a possible “scrubbing strategy” to allow the operation with 50ns and 25ns beams after the Long Shutdown in 2013-2014 will be presented.

TUPME032	Update on Beam Induced RF Heating in the LHC	1646
	B. Salvant, O. Aberle, G. Arduini, R.W. Aßmann, V. Baglin, M.J. Barnes, W. Bartmann, P. Baudrenghien, O.E. Berrig, A. Bertarelli, C. Bracco, E. Bravin, G. Bregliozzi, R. Bruce, F. Carra, F. Caspers, G. Cattenoz, S.D. Claudet, H.A. Day, M. Deile, J.F. Esteban Müller, P. Fassnacht, M. Garlaschè, L. Gentini, B. Goddard, A. Grudiev, B. Henrist, S. Jakobsen, O.R. Jones, O. Kononenko, G. Lanza, L. Lari, T. Mastoridis, V. Mertens, N. Mounet, E. Métral, A.A. Nosych, J.L. Nougaret, S. Persichelli, A.M. Piguiet, S. Redaelli, F. Roncarolo, G. Rumolo, B. Salvachua, M. Sapinski, R. Schmidt, E.N. Shaposhnikova, L.J. Tavian, M.A. Timmins, J.A. Uythoven, A. Vidal, J. Wenninger, D. Wollmann, M. Zerlauth CERN, Geneva, Switzerland H.A. Day UMAN, Manchester, United Kingdom L. Lari IFIC, Valencia, Spain
	Since June 2011, the rapid increase of the luminosity performance of the LHC has come at the expense of increased temperature and pressure readings on specific near-beam LHC equipment. In some cases, this beam induced heating has caused delays whilie equipment cools down, beam dumps and even degradation of these devices. This contribution gathers the observations of beam induced heating attributable to beam coupling impedance, their current level of understanding and possible actions that are planned to be implemented during the long shutdown in 2013-2014.

TUPME034	Experimental Studies for Future LHC Beams in the SPS	1652
	H. Bartosik, T. Argyropoulos, T. Bohl, S. Cettour-Cave, J.F. Esteban Müller, W. Höfle, G. Iadarola, Y. Papaphilippou, G. Rumolo, B. Salvant, F. Schmidt, E.N. Shaposhnikova, H. Timko CERN, Geneva, Switzerland A.Y. Molodozhentsev KEK, Ibaraki, Japan
	The High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) project requires significantly higher beam intensity than presently accessible in the LHC injector chain. The aim of the LHC injectors upgrade project (LIU) is to prepare the CERN accelerators for the future needs of the LHC. Therefore a series of machine studies with high brightness beams were performed, assessing the present performance reach and identifying remaining limitations. Of particular concern are beam loading and longitudinal instabilities at high energy, space charge for beams with 50ns bunch spacing and electron cloud effects for beams with 25ns bunch spacing. This paper provides a summary of the performed studies, that have been possible thanks to the implementation of the SPS low gamma-transition optics.

WEPEA013	Electron Cloud Studies for the Upgrade of the CERN PS	2522
	G. Iadarola Naples University Federico II, Science and Technology Pole, Napoli, Italy H. Damerau, S.S. Gilardoni, G. Iadarola, S. Rioja Fuentelsaz, G. Rumolo, G. Sterbini, C. Yin Vallgren CERN, Geneva, Switzerland M.T.F. Pivi SLAC, Menlo Park, California, USA
	The observation of a significant dynamic pressure rise as well as measurements with dedicated detectors indicate that an electron cloud develops in the CERN PS during the last stages of the RF manipulations for the production of LHC type beams, especially with 25ns bunch spacing. Although presently these beams are not degraded by the interaction with the electron cloud, which develops only during few milliseconds before extraction, the question if this effect could degrade the future high intensity and high brightness beams foreseen by the LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU) project is still open. Therefore several studies are being carried out employing both simulations and measurements with the electron cloud detectors in the machine. The aim is to develop a reliable electron cloud model of the PS vacuum chambers in order to identify possible future limitations and find suitable countermeasures.

WEPEA014	Recent Electron Cloud Studies in the SPS	2525
	G. Iadarola, H. Bartosik, M. Driss Mensi, H. Neupert, G. Rumolo, M. Taborelli CERN, Geneva, Switzerland G. Iadarola Naples University Federico II, Science and Technology Pole, Napoli, Italy
	It is important to qualify the present status of the SPS with respect to the electron cloud before the Long Shutdown of the CERN accelerator complex, which will take place in 2013-2014. Therefore several electron cloud studies were performed during the 2012 run in order to get a full characterization of the behavior of the SPS with the LHC-type beams with 25 ns bunch spacing, which can be very sensitive to electron cloud effects. The collected information should allow to understand up to which extent this long period without beam operation - and the related interventions on the machine - will degrade the present conditioning state of the SPS, which has been achieved by “scrubbing” over several years. Several measurements with different beam conditions have been collected also on the electron cloud detectors installed in the machine. These results, in combination with detailed simulation studies, will provide the basis for defining strategies of electron cloud mitigation as required for the production of future high intensity and high brightness beams within the LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU) project.

WEPEA042	The PS Upgrade Programme: Recent Advances	2594
	S.S. Gilardoni, S. Bart Pedersen, C. Bertone, N. Biancacci, A. Blas, D. Bodart, J. Borburgh, P. Chiggiato, H. Damerau, S. Damjanovic, J.D. Devine, T. Dobers, M. Gourber-Pace, S. Hancock, A. Huschauer, G. Iadarola, L.A. Lopez Hernandez, A. Masi, S. Mataguez, E. Métral, M.M. Paoluzzi, S. Persichelli, S. Pittet, S. Roesler, C. Rossi, G. Rumolo, B. Salvant, R. Steerenberg, G. Sterbini, L. Ventura, J. Vollaire, R. Wasef, C. Yin Vallgren CERN, Geneva, Switzerland M. Migliorati University of Rome "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy
	The LHC Injectors Upgrade project (LIU) has been initiated to improve the performances of the existing injector complex at CERN to match the future requirements of the HL-LHC. In this framework, the Proton Synchrotron (PS) will undergo fundamental changes for many of its main systems: the injection energy will be increased to reduce space-charge effects, the transverse damper will be improved to cope with transverse instabilities the RF systems will be upgraded to accelerate higher beam intensity and brightness. These hardware improvements are triggered by a series of studies meant to identify the most critical performance bottlenecks, like space charge, impedances, longitudinal and transverse instabilities, as well as electron-cloud. Additionally, alternative production schemes for the LHC-type beams have been proposed and implemented to circumvent some of the present limitations. A summary of the most recent advances of the studies, as well as the proposed hardware improvements is given.

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.

WEPME042	Modelling and Studies for a Wideband Feedback System for Mitigation of Transverse Single Bunch Instabilities	3019
	K.S.B. Li, W. Höfle, G. Rumolo CERN, Geneva, Switzerland J.M. Cesaratto, J.E. Dusatko, J.D. Fox, M.T.F. Pivi, K.M. Pollock, C.H. Rivetta, O. Turgut SLAC, Menlo Park, California, USA
	As part of the LHC injector upgrade a wideband feedback system is under study for mitigation of coherent single bunch instabilities. This type of system may provide a generic way of shifting the instability threshold to regions that are currently inaccessible, thus, boosting the brightness of future beams. To study the effectiveness of such systems, a numerical model has been developed that constitutes a realistic feedback system including real transfer functions for pickup and kicker, realistic N-tap FIR and IIR filters as well as noise and saturation effects. Simulations of SPS cases have been performed with HeadTail to evaluate the feedback effectiveness in the presence of electron clouds and TMCI. Some results are presented addressing bandwidth limitations, noise issues and amplifier power requirements.

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]

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.