BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
In the 2013 RHIC polarized proton run, it was found that the RHIC bunch intensity has reached a limit due to the head-on beam-beam interaction at 2x1011, as expected by simulations. To overcome this limitation, two electron lenses will be used for compensation. We report on the commissioning of new lattices that reduce beam-beam driven resonance driving terms, and bunch-by-bunch proton diagnostic during 2013 run. The effect of electron beam transport solenoids on the proton orbit was tested. The instrumentation for Blue electron lens was tested and electron beam was propagated from the gun to the collector. A timing system was implemented for the electron beam. Control software, machine protection and synoptic display were developed and tested during commissioning. Both Blue and Yellow electron lens superconducting magnets are installed and their field straightness was measured and corrected in the tunnel using a magnetic needle. The Yellow vacuum system and backscattered electron detectors installation are also completed now.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
We describe a new and minimally invasive method for near real-time measurement of the evolution of critical beam optical parameters during acceleration of beams to high energies in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at BNL. The implementation uses existing hardware to periodically excite a single bunch in the beam and leverages off of improved precision and deterministic data delivery from the RHIC beam position monitors operating in turn-by-turn mode. The beam response to the external excitations was observed to decohere on a relatively short time scale so allowing near-simultaneous data acquisition in the horizontal and vertical planes. The excitations and acquisitions are carefully timed to allow coexistence with normal ramp orbit feedback operating at a 1 Hz rate. Respecting the limitations of the data transfer times, important parameters such as the beta functions, local phase advance, and betatron tune spread were measured in both accelerators and both transverse planes at a maximum rate of once every 2 seconds / 4 seconds in each of the two RHIC accelerators respectively. The measurement architecture is described together with select experimental results.