LHC One-turn Delay Feedback Commissioning

The LHC One-Turn delay FeedBack (OTFB) is an FPGA based feedback system part of the LHC cavity controller, which produces gain only around the revolution frequency (frev = 11.245 kHz) harmonics. As such, it helps reduce the transient beam loading and effective cavity impedance. Consequently, it increases the stability margin for Longitudinal Coupled Bunch Instabilities driven by the cavity impedance at the fundamental and allows reliable operation at higher beam currents. The OTFB was commissioned on all sixteen cavities in mid-October 2011 and has been used in operation since. The commissioning procedure and algorithms for setting-up are presented. The resulting improvements in transient beam loading, beam stability, and required klystron power are analyzed. The commissioning of the OTFB reduced the cavity voltage phase modulation from approximately six degrees peak-to-peak to below one degree at 400 MHz with nominal bunch intensity of 1.1e11 protons.