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For RHIC to operate at its top energy (100 GeV/n) while protecting the future sPHENIX detector, spontaneous and asynchronous firing of abort kicker modules (pre-fires) have to be avoided. A new triggering circuit for the abort kickers was implemented with relatively slow mechanical relays in series with the standard fast thyratron tubes. The relays prevents unwanted pre-fires during operation, but comes at the expense of a long latency - about 7 milliseconds - between the removal of beam permit and the actual firing of the abort kickers. Protection considerations of RHIC’s superconducting magnets forbid delaying energy extraction from the main dipoles and quadrupoles for too long after a quench. The beam has thus to circulate in both RHIc rings for a few milliseconds as the current in dipole and quadrupole circuit is being extracted. We present the results of delayed abort experiments conducted in July 2018 with the analysis of fast orbit and tune measurements and discuss the safety implications of this implementation for future RHIC operation., Proceedings of the 12th International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2021, Campinas, SP, Brazil

A large installation of VME controllers have been used to control and monitor the RHIC Accelerator complex at BNL. As this equipment ages a number of upgrade options are being pursued. This paper describes an FPGA based VME controller board development being undertaken to provide a upgrade path for control applications that reuses existing racks and power supplies and a catalogue of custom application boards. This board is based on a Xilinx Zynq that includes an ARM-9 and a large FPGA fabric. The board includes DRAM, SPI-Flash, Ethernet, SD card, USB, SFP, FMC and an Artix FPGA to support the VME bus protocol. The first application of a magnet quench detector will also be described., Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Accelerator and Large Experimental Physics Control Systems, ICALEPCS2019, New York, NY, USA

In this talk we are presenting the most recent results from the commissioning of unique Coherent Electron Cooling system, which is using an FEL amplifier to facilitate cooling of hadrons by an electron beam. We present achieved results as well as changes we encountered in the process., Proceedings of the 38th Int. Free Electron Laser Conf., FEL2017, Santa Fe, NM, USA

The coherent electron cooling proof-of-principle experiment is aimed to demonstrate new technique suitable for cooling of the high energy protons and is essential for a future electron-hadron collider. In this paper we present the current status of the equipment, achieved beam parameters, and progress of the experiment. Future plans are also discussed., Proceedings of the 11th Workshop on Beam Cooling and Related Topics, COOL2017, Bonn, Germany

In the Brookhaven LINAC Isotope Producer (BLIP) facility, a fixed target is bombarded by proton beam to produce isotopes for medical research and cancer treatment. This bombardment process causes spot heating on the target and reduces its lifetime. To mitigate this problem, an upgrade to the beamline has been made by spreading the beam on the target in a circular pattern, which allows the target to heat more uniformly. The beam is steered in a circular pattern by a magnet with orthogonal (X and Y) windings. Each of these two windings is independently powered as part of a resonant circuit driven by a power amplifier. This paper describes the hardware platform used as well as the software implementation of the resonant circuit design and its feedback loops., Proceedings of the 5th Int. Beam Instrumentation Conf., IBIC2016, Barcelona, Spain

The 200 MeV H⁻ Linac has been operational for the last 45 years providing beam for the physics and isotope programs. Currently we are upgrading the Linac for improved reliability and integrated intensity. Recently we replaced the 7651 tubes with solid-state RF amplifiers. In addition, the low level RF system and Timing system were upgraded and new beam loss monitors were installed that is sensitive at low-energies and to neutrons. We have a plan for future upgrades to the vacuum, Controls, diagnostics and power supply systems. In order to achieve higher average current for the isotope program, it is plan to increase the beam pulse length from 450 us to 900 us. This will require modifications to the RF and all pulse power supply systems., Proceedings of the 7th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2016, Busan, Korea

We have started the first tests of the equipment for the coherent electron cooling proof-of-principle experiment. After tests of the 500 MHz normal conducting cavities we proceeded with the low power beam tests of a CW SRF gun. The results of the tests with record beam parameters are presented., Proceedings of the 37th International Free Electron Laser Conference, FEL2015, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

The 3.8 km circumference Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at BNL has been in operation since 2000. An electron-ion collider (eRHIC), which is in the design phase, plans to use one of the existing ion rings and new electron rings constructed in the existing tunnel to provide collisions of up to 21.2 GeV electrons with up to 100 GeV gold ions, 250 GeV polarized protons, as well as other species. Many new real-time systems will be required to satisfy the needs of eRHIC, including over 2000 beam position monitors, 1000 beam loss monitors, 18 current monitors, feedback systems, controls for about 10,000 power supplies, machine protection system, new beam timing systems, and more. The selected architecture must be flexible, expandable, cost-effective, reliable, and easy to maintain. Interface with existing and new accelerator timing systems is required, and compatibility with existing infrastructure and equipment must be maintained. Embedded modules based on the Xilinx Zynq gate array, with direct Ethernet connection and on-board Linux, housed in multi-slot chassis (VME, VPX, TCA, etc.) is under consideration. Preliminary design concepts for the architecture will be presented., Proceedings of the 15th Int. Conf. on Accelerator and Large Experimental Physics Control Systems, ICALEPCS2015, Melbourne, Australia

High-gradient CW photo-injectors operating at high ac-celerating gradients promise to revolutionize many sci-ences and applications. They can establish the basis for super-bright monochromatic X-ray and gamma-ray sources, high luminosity hadron colliders, nuclear- waste transmutation or a new generation of microchip produc-tion. In this paper we report on our operation of a super-conducting RF electron gun with a record-high accelerat-ing gradient at the CsK2Sb photocathode (i.e. ~ 20 MV/m) generating a record-high bunch charge (i.e., 2 nC). We briefly describe the system and then detail our experimental results., Proceedings of the 7th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2016, Busan, Korea