Feedback control of coupled-bunch instabilities [particle accelerators]

The next generation of synchrotron light sources and particle accelerators will require active feedback systems to control multi-bunch instabilities. Stabilizing hundreds or thousands of potentially unstable modes in these accelerator designs presents many technical challenges. Feedback systems to stabilize coupled-bunch instabilities may be understood in the frequency domain (mode-based feedback) or in the time domain (bunch-by-bunch feedback). In both approaches an external amplifier system is used to create damping fields that prevent coupled-bunch oscillations from growing without bound. The system requirements for transverse (betatron) and longitudinal (synchrotron) feedback are presented, and possible implementation options developed. Feedback system designs based on digital signal-processing techniques are described. Experimental results are shown from a synchrotron oscillation damper in the SSRL/SLAC storage ring SPEAR that uses digital signal-processing techniques