MD on Head-Tail Instability in the PS Booster

Machine study experiments on the coherent instabilities appearing along the magnetic ramp have been performed at the CERN PS Booster synchrotron in the week of June 11-15, 2012. The space- and time structure of the head-tail instabilities was recorded by the triggered pick-up signals due to reproducibility of the occurrence time in the shot-by-shot sense. The intensity thresholds, the absolute growth rates and the mode structure have been compared for the bunches in the single-rf and in three types of the double-rf operation. The growth rates are compared to the instantaneous synchrotron frequencies, in the cases of the large corresponding ratio the head-tail mode structure is deformed by the driving impedance. Bunch parameters measurements indicate that the PSB bunches are in the regime of very strong transverse space-charge all along the magnetic ramp.