Proton Synchrotron Division

PS Activities

The Division is responsible for the operation of five accelerators which operate for close to 4500 hours per year and deliver beams of protons, Pb ions and antiprotons either directly to the physics users, or to the SPS for further acceleration. The protons and ions are generated and pre-accelerated in the Linac 2 and Linac 3 respectively. Prior to final acceleration by the Proton Synchrotron (PS), protons and ions are accelerated by the four Booster rings. The antiprotons are generated, stored, cooled and decelerated by the Antiproton Accelerator (AD) complex before final deceleration by the RFQD.

Four areas are fed with beam directly: the East Hall where there are physics and numerous test experiments; the ISOLDE facility; the AD area and the new TOF facility. The breadth of the CERN physics programme requires that normally several of the different particle beams operate simultaneously, which requires pulse-to-pulse modulation of the machines and a complicated interweaving of different machine cycles in a supercycle.

Preparation of the PS complex for the future LHC era is well under way. A high brightness proton beam with nominal performance was demonstrated in 2000 and a study to upgrade the PS complex for providing ions beams to LHC (PIL) has been completed. This includes the development of a possible Laser Ion Source (LIS) and the conversion of the old LEAR ring into an ion storage and cooler ring (LEIR).

In addition to its rôle as supplier of all of CERN's beams, the PS Division is responsible for the R & D for the possible future facilities for CERN in the post-LHC era. That includes the studies of a Multi-Tev e⁺e^- Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) based on a two beam accelerator scheme. The basic principle of the CLIC technology is being established in the present CLIC Test Facility (CTF2) and will be demonstrated in the test facility, CTF3, at present under construction. A Superconducting Proton Linac (SPL) is being designed as a possible proton driver for a Superbeam or a Neutrino Factory aiming to produce high intensity neutrino beams for long base line detectors, but it could also be a powerful and bright injector for ISOLDE and the PS.