Upgrade of the SPS Injection Kicker System for the LHC High Luminosity Operation with Heavy Ion Beam

In the context of the LHC High Luminosity Upgrade project a performance upgrade for heavy ions is envisaged. One of the performance limitations is the rise time of the present SPS injection kicker system MKP. A reduction of the rise time for lead ions was studied in line with a modification of the whole injection system. This paper briefly describes the different rise time options studied for an initially proposed dedicated ion kicker system MKP-I, focuses however on a cost effective alternative using the presently installed 12 MKPS magnets connected to a new fast pulse forming line. As only 12 out of the 16 injection kicker magnets would be fast enough to be used in an upgraded system, additional deflection has to be provided by the septa. The beam optics for that variant is highlighted and first requirements for the septum elements are stipulated. The paper concludes with a failure analysis of the proposed scheme.