TEVATRON IONIZATION PROFILE MONITORING

Ionization Profile monitors have been used in almost all machines at Fermilab. However, the Tevatron presents some particular challenges with its two counter-rotating, small beams, and stringent vacuum requirements. In order to obtain adequate beam size accuracy with the small signals available, custom made electronics from particle physics experiments was employed. This provides a fast (single bunch) and dead-timeless charge integration with a sensitivity in the femto-Coulomb range, bringing the system close to the single ionization electron detection threshold. The detector itself is based on a previous Main Injector prototype, albeit with many modifications and improvements. The first detector was installed at the end of 2005, and the second detector during the spring shutdown. The ultimate goal is to continuously monitor beam size oscillations at injection, as well as the beam size evolution during ramp and squeeze. Initial results are very encouraging.