Development and Optimisation of the SPS and LHC beam diagnostics based on Synchrotron Radiation monitors

Field: Physics and Astronomy (Physical Sciences)

Measuring the beam transverse emittance is fundamental in every accelerator, in particular for colliders, where its precise determination is essential to maximize the luminosity and thus the performance of the colliding beams.  Synchrotron Radiation (SR) is a versatile tool for non-destructive beam diagnostics, since its characteristics are closely related to those of the source beam. At CERN, being the only available diagnostics at high beam intensity and energy, SR monitors are exploited as the proton beam size monitor of the two higher energy machines, the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The thesis work documented in this report focused on the design, development, characterization and optimization of these beam size monitors. Such studies were based on a comprehensive set of theoretical calculations, numerical simulations and experiments.A powerful simulation tool has been developed combining conventional softwares for SR simulation and optics design, thus allowing the description of an SR monitor from its source up to the detector.  The simulations were confirmed by direct observations, and a detailed performance studies of the operational SR imaging monitor in the LHC, where different techniques for experimentally validating the system were applied, such as cross-calibrations with the wire scanners at low intensity (that are considered as a reference) and direct comparison with beam sizes de-convoluted from the LHC luminosity measurements.In 2015, the beam sizes to be measured with the further increase of the LHC beam energy to 7 TeV will decrease down to ∼190 μm. In these conditions, the SR imaging technique was found at its limits of applicability since the error on the beam size determination is proportional to the ratio of the system resolution and the measured beam size. Therefore, various solutions were probed to improve the system’s performance such as the choice of one light polarization, the reduction of depth of field effect and the reduction of the imaging wavelength down to 250 nm.In parallel to reducing the diffraction contribution to the resolution broadening, the extraction mirror, found as the main sources of aberrations in the system was redesigned. Its failure was caused by the EM coupling with the beam’s fields that led to overheating and deterioration of the coating. A new system’s geometry featuring a smoother transition in the beam pipe was qualified in terms of longitudinal coupling impedance via the stretched wire technique. A comparison with the older system was carried out and resulted in a reduction of the total power dissipated in the extraction system by at least a factor of four.A new, non-diffraction limited, SR-based monitor based on double slit interferometry was designed as well as an alternative method to the direct imaging. Its principle is based on the direct relation between the interferogram fringes visibility and the beam size.Since the beam emittance is the physical quantity of interest in the performance analysis of the LHC, determining the optical functions at the SR monitors is as relevant as measuring the beam size. The “K-modulation” method for the optical function determination was applied for the first time in the LHC IR4, where most of the profile monitors sit. The βs at the quadrupoles were measured and via two different propagation algorithms the βs at the BSRT and the WS were obtained reducing significantly the uncertainty at the monitors location.