Design of beam optics for RF-separated kaon and antiproton beams in the M2 beam line of the CERN North Area

The present contribution reviews the principle of RF separation and explains its dependence on different parameters of beam optics and hardware. The first examination of potential showstoppers for the RF-separated beam implementation for Phase-2 of the AMBER experiment in the M2 beam line of the North Area is presented. Different beam optics settings have been examined, providing either focused or parallel beams inside the RF cavities. The separation and transmission capability of the different optics settings for realistic characteristics of RF cavities are discussed and the preliminary results of the potential purity and intensity of the RF-separated beam are presented. These show that a trade-off between the overall beam intensity and the share of the required particle type in the overall beam needs to be established. No showstoppers have been identified for achieving the beam parameters required for AMBER’s kaonic Primakoff reactions, kaon spectroscopy, prompt-photon production and kaon charge-radius programs. However, the high beam intensity requirements of the AMBER Drell–Yan programme cannot be satisfied with an RF-separated beam.