The future of the SPS injection channel

The SPS accelerator will be used as injector for the LHC and has to be adapted to the LHC requirements. The tight specification on beam blow-up in the SPS requires a reduction of the magnetic field ripple of the SPS injection kicker magnets to less than ±0.5 %. The bunch spacing of the LHC ion beam requires a reduction of the kicker magnets' rise time from 145 ns to less than 115 ns. To obtain the shorter rise time the existing kicker magnets have to be reduced in length and the characteristic impedance has to be increased. The resulting loss in magnetic field has to be compensated by the installation of additional magnets. Results of studies on the required kicker strengths and physical apertures for the different types of beam and corresponding operational modes are shown. Changes to the Pulse Forming Network (PFN) and the option of using Pulse Forming Lines (PFL) are presented. Results of first magnet measurements are shown.