High Spin-Flip Efficiency at 255 GeV for Polarized Protons in a Ring With Two Full Siberian Snakes

In polarized proton collision experiments, it is highly advantageous to flip the spin of each bunch of protons during the stores to reduce the systematic errors. Experiments done at energies less than 2 GeV have demonstrated a spin-flip efficiency over 99%. At high energy colliders with Siberian snakes, a single magnet spin flipper does not work because of the large spin tune spread and the generation of multiple, overlapping resonances. A more sophisticated spin flipper, constructed of nine-dipole magnets, was used to flip the spin in the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. A special optics choice was also used to make the spin tune spread very small. A 97% spin-flip efficiency was measured at both 24 and 255 GeV. These results show that efficient spin flipping can be achieved at high energies using a nine-magnet spin flipper.