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PS/SPS User Meeting
PS/SPS User Meeting
Minutes of the PS-SPS Users Meeting for Week 24 held on June 15th, 2023
Next user meeting:
For week 25 on Thursday, June 22th, 2023 10:30 CEST
Meeting room 874/1-011
News from the PS & SPS Physics Coordinator (E. B. Holzer)
See this codimd location from Tuesday morning onwards for the News from the FOM:
Week 24
Continued empty-bucket channelling test on the operational beam (improve the spill structure) to be , possibly on Wednesday
MD planning for the comming weeks:
This week (week 24):
- LHC MD block shifter forward by one day, now starting on Tuesday and lasting until Saturday
- PSB and PS: short parallel MDs ongoing
Next weeks:
Week 25 - Technical stop:
- Beam stop from Monday 07:00 (with load shedding tests) until Thursday 18:00
- Monday COLDEX + CRAB until 04:00
- Restart on Wednesday around 14:30 with scrubbing overnight
- Thursday 6:00 - 8:00 foil measurments, followed by dedicated MD COLDEX until 18:00; then, re-establish NA physics
Week 26:
no dedicated MDs due to HiRadmat
Preliminary Planning of the Techincal Stop week 25
Beam stop (cool-down) times as a function of beams and areas:
- 19/06 at 7:00 am: stop of TOF, SPS North Area (SFTPRO, except MD)
- 19/06 at 3:00 pm: stop of ISOLDE, PS EAST, COLDEX
- 20/06 at 4:00 am: stop of all other proton beams: AD, MD, COAST
There are big uncertainties with respect to the time when the beams will be ready again for the users!
- Wednesday 21/06 at 2:00 pm the technical stop ends
- Some beams could be back very early (possibly as early as 14:30)
- Others could take much longer
- In general 4 hours have been estimated for commissioning and start-up after the TS. During this period there might be already beam for the users, but the quality of the beams will be worked on.
- SPS FT beam could only be back after the dedicated MD on Thursday
- scrubbing the SPS during the night Wednesday to Thursday
- foil measurements on Thursday morning
- Thursday: dedicated MD
PS Machine Report (Benoit)
Availability of 91% since last Thursday.
Main issues:
- RF cavity issues last week, intervention on Sunday and access on Monday to replace an amplifier and fix a rely gap issue.
- Access on Thursday morning in shadow of PSB magnet inspection for TDI47 water flow increase.
- Several POPS issues since Monday, cooling at the limit on DSP5. POPS in degraded mode since Tuesday. Intervention to put it back in normal mode just completed this morning.
TOF
Now sending only 28ns bunch length at extraction for the next two month (incl. parasitic TOF)?
New flux limit for nTOF target at 220e10 p/s!?
On Monday, Fabio Pozzi (RP) noticed that the average beam intensity of the TOF beam sent to the target went up to 250e10 p/s for few hours, instead of 220e10 p/s allowed by the new limit. While investigating, the SIS interlock was decreased.
In fact, the beam sent from parasitic cycles were systematically measured at 0 current, and this was due to a timing that was enabled by mistake on the EAST users on Friday, while it was used for testing the double-extraction TOF cycle.
This timing was disabled, and the correct behaviour of the system was checked. and the SIS threshold was put back to 220e10 p/s. On Tuesday, we have set the timing to ’non-trimmable’ in LSA to avoid this situation in the future. Since the limit is set to protect the target, an independent measurement would be desirable, potentially radiation monitoring that could interlock the beam. To be followed up.
EAST
Federico said at MPC that EAST-T8 intensity was low on Monday, this was corrected.
SFTPRO
Correlation between the PS temperature increase, LHC filling supercycle and degradation of beam SFTPRO beam in the PS identified.
SPS Machine Report (Verena)
Last week’s availabililty for NA was about 79%, this week so far about 84%. Reduced duty cycle because of LHC MD week. n x 50 Hz controller issue on Sunday not understood, but was straight forward to recover. Did not re-occur since then.
Safety / Radiation Protection (Please Add Your Name Here)
n_TOF (Nikolas Patronis)
- General comments:
- Since Friday we increased the average beam intensity interlock from 167E10 to 220E10 pps. Many thanks to PS teams SY-STI and RP for their efforts.
- 28 ns pulses are delivered.
- For some hours on 11/6 due to the non-counting of some parasitic pulses this limit was exceeded
- EAR1: The 30Si(n,g) measurement just started. Important measurement for chemical galactic evolution. Discrepancies (factor of 2!) between data bases have to be resoolved. The measurement will last a bit more than a month.
- EAR2: The 243Am(n,f) reaction study is running nicely. In data taking mode since Monday 12.06
- NEAR: Irradiations at i-NEAR for radiation hardness studies are on-going. Nothing in the a-NEAR.
East Area Beam Status (M. van Dijk)
T9: Smooth operation.
T10: Smooth operation.
T11: Off for now, no user.
East Area Users Tour de Table
T8: IRRAD / CHARM (F. Ravotti / S. Fiore)
Good week. During the access on Wednesday we exchanged samples for long-term users (EP-ESE, etc.) and replaced samples for the TE-MSC radiation-test under N2 atmosphere (IRRAD). ATLAS, SY-BI, CMS, BE-CEM users continue their tests (CHARM). Some beam stops over the weekend (degraded transmission and beam alignment on X-axis, down to about 72% compared to >96% of previous weeks) solved on Monday morning. Intensity close to the weekly target value (see below). Upcoming access, next week.
T9 Outgoing: ALICE FOCAL (Tommaso Isidori)
FoCal-E standalone installed on DESY table and triggered via scintillator system (10x10 cm2 and 1x1 cm2). The trigger is processed through a Trigger board that allows to select phase of the Local Trigger Unit clock (LTU) and send the trigger out to the LTU.
The LTU triggers the acquisition through the standard ALICE readout chain (CRU —> optical connection to the FEE).
Data taking went smooth, aside multiple hardware issue that needed to be addressed.
- General:
- Addressed and solved the wrong configuration of the trigger system that previously (H2) resulted in a significant data loss.
- Data acquisition infrastructure had to be restored and reinstalled to adapt to the newly assigned IP when the server was moved to the area. Known bug nested in the configuration of the AliECS framework.
- Pixels:
- Tested PSU developed by students in Bergen. The device was successfully used to power and monitor the pixel modules
- Performed studies of shower occupancy applying back bias to the strips
- Pads:
- Timing of the pads readout chip studied using the Trigger board.
- Characterization of the HGCROC high gain preamplification settings
T9 Main: NanoCal (Matthew Moulson)
Smooth installation yesterday, safety clearance at 17:30.
NanoCal installed on XSCA table. 5 prototypes to test. Each 3 hrs with electrons + 8 hours muons.
Crilin (HIKE SAC prototype) installed on DESY table. Mainly parasitic test of readout and functionality in preparation for H2 in August.
Ambitious program to complete before TS on Monday!
Smooth running overnight: muon run with first prototype.
Problems with CESAR: Unable to load beam files; system errors for various operations. For now calling CCC to ask for CESAR operations. Looked at with Maarten; need to coordinate with Bastien.
T9 Incoming: MUONE ECAL - Week 25 (Enrico Conti)
Purpose of the testbeam is the calibration of the MUonE ECAL module in the 1-10 GeV range with electrons. The same module collected data two weeks ago at the H2 beamline for the high energy calibr.
The ECAL is on a DESY table for x-y movements.
We replicate the same setup used on the last year test in T9.
Electron energies: (10)- 6 - 5 - 2 - 1 GeV (in this or in reverse order).
Beam intensity: a few 10^3/spill with momentum spread at minimum possible.
We probably need to use the Cherenkov beam detectors for PID at high energy.
T10: ALICE MUON ID (Please Add Your Name Here)
T10 Incoming: IDEA CC - Week 25 (Nicola De Filippis)
Purpose of the testbeam is to test the performance of the cluster counting technique at low momentum by using 20 drift tubes arranged in box. A mixture of He and Isobuthane will be used with different percentage.
The detector will be installed on a DESY table; a rotating table provided by use will be used to change the orientation of the tubes w.r.t the beam line. We will need to change the muon momentum within the range allowed.
North Area Beam Status
H2, H4, H6, and H8 Beams (M. van Dijk)
H2: Smooth operation.
H4: Smooth operation.
H6: Smooth operation. Higher intensity week. Successfully optimised beam size in PPE156 with EP PIXEL. This week, back to normal intensity. Thanks to EP PIXEL and ALICE ITS3 for nice coordination of the intensity settings - no accidental trips of radiation monitor.
H8: Smooth operation. LHCb and STI installed, both agreed to give control of the beam to the LHCb control room. Agreement to give TOTEM (main) the control, should they need beam any time.
Other Beams P42, K12, and M2 (M. van Dijk)
M2: Successful tuning and preparation for all hadron beam energies.
P42/K12: No issues on the beamlines. Running at nominal intensity.
North Area Users Tour de Table
P42-K12 and M2
K12: NA62 (Phil Rubin)
The weekend was very productive as a result of good quality beam in the triple spill, 14.4 s supercycle. Since Monday, we’ve managed during the LHC MD studies and were pleasantly surprised by the quiet periods of triple-spill beam. We also appreciate the operators correcting the worst features of the beam–mainly intensity spikes at the beginning of the spill–quickly and hope that they are not too annoyed by our phoning when these spikes appear. The attached plots are intended to show the effect on the experiment of poor beam quality.
M2: AMBER (Christophe Pires)
We have concluded the 100 GeV and 250 GeV data points and the 160 GeV data taking is ongoing.
We are currently in access to replace a Wiener VME PS used by CEDARs, otherwise spectrometer is fine.
Empty bucket channelling test on Wednesday morning:
- half of the requested intensity for ~2h30min
3 spill deliveries per supercycle are welcome to help us fulfill our goals.
External intervention on the CEDARs diaphragms control scheduled for TS.
H2
H2 Outgoing: EP FTS (Loris Martinazzoli)
Successfull data taking during the 4d testbeam.
- Initially some issues with 100 GeV 𝑒−
and 150 𝜋+
- beam, rate extremely low.
- Issued solved on Sunday thanks to Johannes and Nikos intervention. Thank you a lot for the help and support!
H2 Main: ATLAS ZDC/RPD (Riccardo Longo)
Smooth installation and area closed by 5 PM. Safety clearance obtained at 2:30 PM and Alignment from 3 to 4:30 PM. THanks to the craning team, Nikos, Bastien, Michael, Alex and Benoit. Thanks also to the previous users to allow us for using part of the CR for early installation of our DAQ. Unfortunately - all the effort was crippled by major issues of cross-talking between the line of the patch panel. Any signal from the ZDC would (different modules) would induce widespread interference on the other channel, with non negligible magnitudes. None of these issues was present with the same setup last year in H4. After reaching certainty of the source of the issue, we had no choice more than moving the whole setup from the CR to next to the fence. We started at 4:30 AM and we are mostly finished now.
We will then check the quality of the beam and iterate with Nikos for further tuning. This was not possible before because of the issues on our end. The rates that we have seen so far will allow only a very “slim” program. We may ask to squeeze a bit more the beam if possible, but this will be discussed after first good data are taken.
From Sunday 4PM till the end of Wednesday the contact person for the test beam will be the ZDC project leader, Brian Cole (brian.cole@cern.ch).
More about patch panel issue
Example of cross talk between one ZDC line (solicited by a typical activation signal) and another patch panel line reading out a detector channel. Such pick up was seen on several PP lines (either connected or not) and was induced by signals coming from the ZDC modules (any of them - most probably because way larger than the RPD one). Same trend observed during physics. We couldn’t operate in these conditions.
Example of similar ZDC activation signal but measured in the area. No issue visibile in several minutes of test. Also signals looking fine after moving the equipment next to the fence.
H2 Incoming: LHCb ECAL - Week 25 (Loris Martinazzoli)
Ready for installation. Nothing to report.
Beam configuration desired:
- 𝑒−
- of 20-40-60-80-100 GeV/c
- 𝜋+
of 150 GeV/c (to get 𝜇−
- )
H4
H4 Main: NA64e (Vladimir Poliakov)
Smooth data taking.
Monday, 2 shift – Ecal calibration with 50 and 100 GeV electrons; measurement shower profiless for both energy.
Near 3.5x10^11 electrons on target was recorded until today.
H6
H6 Outgoing Main: ALICE ITS3 (Paolo Martinengo)
Test completed as expected, recorded more data than planned thanks to excellent beam, thanks a lot.
We would also like to thank the groups sharing the beam with us for the collaboration.
H6 Outgoing Parallel: EP PIXEL (Dominik Dannheim)
- Initially somewhat deteriorated beam conditions because of upstream material (MCP-PMT installed Aconite telescope in H6A). After removing this material: beam profile and rates were tuned by Laurence and Dipanwita to be very similar to conditions in May high-rate period.
- Overall less data taken than planned for FASTPIX device under test, because of several long down-times and extended periods with only one extraction per supercycle.
- It would help for the planning of the overnight runs and the optimisation of the beam settings, if the plans for the SPS supercycle composition were clearly communicated on Vistars or elsewhere. (Sometimes the messages on Vistars are in contradiction to the actual supercycle composition.)
- Dedicated time-reference measurements successfully completed on Tuesday.
- Smooth collaboration with main user ALICE ITS3 as always - thank you!
H6 Main: ATLAS ITK PIXEL (Please Add Your Name Here)
H6 Parallel: AIDA INNOVA WP6 (Ivan Vila Alvarez)
Installing the equipment at the test beam area, progress as expected. One day delay for transporting the chiller to the beam area though, since it was labelled as “TREC” and we needed to reissue the transport request. No impact on the schedule, being the first test beam of the activity, we anticipated a 2-day period for completing the installation of the equipment. Not having the chiller implies though a 24 hours delay on the safety review.
H8
H8 Outgoing Main: PROTOV (Please Add Your Name Here)
H8 Outgoing Parallel: GALORE (Please Add Your Name Here)
H8 Main: TOTEM PPS (F. Garcia)
The initial plan that was to give to LCHb plenty of freedom to use our main suer slot, will become limited until we have tested all detectors. This means four Quarters of the nT2 telescopes of TOTEM.
Initialy we (TOTEM/LHCb) agreed that it might be changes to the initial plan, in short notice and now this is the case.
We hope to complete all the test in a couple of days and give the rest for LHCb to use.
H8 Parallel: STI (F. Galluccio)
The setup in PPE128 is installed and complete: goniometer and 5 plane telescope.
Still an issue with communication to be solved, then we can commission the detector.
Start of data-taking sometime between today late afternoon and tomorrow.
H8 Parallel: LHCb (Loris Martinazzoli)
Installation went fine. Nothing to report.
H8 Incoming: UA9 - Week 25 (F. Galluccio)
UA9 will follow STI next week with the same identical setup.
Parasitic Users
Reporting for parasitic users is optional, please add your name below:
H8 DUMP: STRAW TRACKER 3D (Please Add Your Name Here)
AOB
Minutes by the respective speakers, edited by E. B. Holzer and M. Schwinzerl
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