Experiments and practice in beam shaking

Storage rings with negative particle beams suffer from neutralisation effects due to ions produced from the residual gas. For antiproton accumulators currently in service, these problems would be very serious were it not for the existence of efficient clearing systems to extract ions and feedback systems to stabilise the p-beam. Similar problems exist for small electron storage rings, because clearing electrodes are often not sufficient to completely eliminate ions trapped in the beam potential well. One antidote, recently further developed at CERN and Fermilab, consists in shaking the beam at a fixed frequency close to one of the betatron side bands of the main beam and close to the bounce frequency of trapped ions. The authors describe the experience gained in applying this method on the CERN and the Fermilab Antiproton Accumulators, and on the CERN 600 MeV electron positron damping ring (EPA).