SPS slow extraction losses and activation: update on recent improvements

Annual high intensity requests of over $1 \times 10^{19}$ protons on target (POT) from the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) Fixed Target (FT) physics program continue, with the prospect of requests for even higher, unprecedented levels in the coming decade. A concerted and multifaceted R&D; effort has been launched to understand and reduce the slow extraction induced radioactivation of the SPS and to anticipate future experimental proposals, such as SHiP [1] at the SPS Beam Dump Facility (BDF) [2], which will request an additional $4 \times 10^{19}$ POT per year. In this contribution, we report on operational improvements and recent advances that have been made to significantly reduce the slow extraction losses, by up to a factor of 3, with the deployment of new extraction concepts, including passive and active (thin, bent crystal) diffusers and extraction on the third-integer resonance with octupoles. In light of the successful tests of the prototype extraction loss reduction schemes, an outlook and implications for future SPS FT operation will be presented.