A tool based on the BPM-interpolated orbit for speeding up LHC collimator alignment

Abstract

Beam-based alignment of the LHC collimators is required in order to measure the orbit center and beam size at the collimator locations. During an alignment campaign in March 2012, 80 collimators were aligned at injection energy (450 GeV) using automatic alignment algorithms in 7.5 hours, the fastest setup time achieved since the start of LHC operation in 2008. Reducing the alignment time even further would allow for more frequent alignments, providing more time for physics operation. The proposed tool makes use of the BPM-interpolated orbit to obtain an estimation of the beam centers at the collimators, which can be exploited to quickly move the collimators jaws from the initial parking positions to tighter settings before beam-based alignment commences.