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To provide HL-LHC performance, the CERN LHC injector chain underwent a major upgrade during an almost 2-year-long shutdown. In the first half of 2021 the injectors were gradually re-started with the aim to reach at least pre-shutdown parameters for LHC as well as for fixed target beams. The strategy of the commissioning across the complex, a summary of the many challenges and finally the achievements will be presented. Several lessons were learned and have been integrated to define the strategy for the performance ramp-up over the coming years. Remaining limitations and prospects for LHC beam parameters at the exit of the LHC injector chain in the years to come will be discussed. Finally, the emerging need for improved operability of the CERN complex will be addressed, with a description of the first efforts to meet the availability and flexibility requirements of the HL-LHC era while at the same time maximizing fixed target physics output., Proceedings of the 13th International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2022, Bangkok, Thailand

An Electro-Optic Beam Position Monitor (EO-BPM) is being developed as a high-frequency (up to 10 GHz) diagnostic for crabbing and Head-Tail intra-bunch detection at the HL-LHC. Following an earlier prototype at the SPS that demonstrated single-pickup signals, an upgraded design of an interferometric EO-BPM has been beam-tested at the HiRadMat facility for validation and characterisation studies. In the new design, the fibre-coupled Mach-Zehnder interferometer arms are modulated by lithium niobate waveguides integrated in an upgraded opto-mechanical arrangement that has been developed to produce a highly magnified image field replica of the passing Coulomb field. A new detection technique that is directly sensitive to the interferometric optical difference signal from opposite EO buttons has been applied to measure single-shot bunches for the first time. A transverse resolution study over a ±20 mm range at 3 GHz bandwidth produced the first successful electro-optic bunch-by-bunch position measurement at the HiRadMat in-air extraction line. The results of this campaign show promise for an in-vacuum design that is in production for beam tests at the SPS during Run-3 of the LHC., Proceedings of the 11th International Beam Instrumentation Conference, IBIC2022, Kraków, Poland

The betatron tune in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is measured using a Base-Band-Tune (BBQ) system. Processing of these BBQ signals is often perturbed by 50Hz noise harmonics present in the beam. This causes the tune measurement algorithm, currently based on peak detection, to provide incorrect tune estimates during the acceleration cycle with values that clearly oscillate between neighbouring harmonics. The LHC tune feedback cannot be used to its full extent in these conditions as it relies on stable and reliable tune estimates. In this work we present two alternative tune measurement algorithms, designed to mitigate this problem by ignoring small frequency bands around the 50Hz harmonics and estimating the tune from spectra with gaps. One is based on Gaussian Processes and the other is based on a weighted moving average. We compare the tune estimates of the new and present algorithms and put forward a proposal that can be implemented during the renovation of the BBQ system for the next physics run of the LHC., Proceedings of the 9th International Beam Instrumentation Conference, IBIC2020, Santos, Brazil

Intra-bunch transverse instabilities are routinely measured in the LHC using a "Head-Tail Monitor" based on sampling a wide-band BPM with a high-speed digitiser. However, these measurements are limited by the dynamic range and short record length possible with typical commercial oscilloscopes. This paper will present the initial results from the LHC Multi-Band Instability Monitor, a new technique developed to provide information on the beam stability with a high dynamic range using frequency domain analysis of the transverse beam spectrum., Proceedings of the 7\textsuperscript{th} Int. Beam Instrumentation Conf., IBIC2018, Shanghai, China

Requirements for diagnostics of injection matching and beam space charge effects have driven studies at CERN using high sensitivity tune measurement systems based on diode detectors for the observation of quadrupolar beam oscillations in the frequency domain. This has led to an extension of such tune systems to include a channel optimised for quadrupolar oscillation measurements. This paper presents the principles of such measurements, the developed hardware and example measurements., Proceedings of the 8th International Beam Instrumentation Conference, IBIC2019, Malmö, Sweden

A high bandwidth transverse feedback demonstrator system has been devised within the LARP framework in collaboration with SLAC for the LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU) Project. The initial system targeted the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at CERN to combat TMCI and electron cloud instabilities induced for bunches with bunch lengths at the 100 MHz scale. It features a very fast digital signal processing system running at up to 4~GS/s and high bandwidth kickers with a frequency reach of ultimately beyond 1~GHz. In recent years, the system has gradually been extended and now includes two stripline kickers for a total power of 1~kW delivering correction signals at frequencies of currently more than 700~MHz. This talk will cover recent studies using this demonstrator system to overcome TMCI limitations in the SPS. We will conclude with future plans and also briefly mention potential applications and requirements for larger machines such as the LHC or the HL-LHC., Proceedings of the 61\textsuperscript{st} ICFA ABDW on High-Intensity and High-Brightness Hadron Beams, HB2018, Daejeon, Korea