Compensation of third-harmonic field error in LHC main dipole magnets

One of the main requirements for the operations of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is a suitable correction of multipole errors in magnetic field. The feed-forward control of the LHC is based on the Field Description for the LHC (FiDel), capable of forecasting the magnet´s behavior in order to generate adequate current ramps for main and corrector magnets. Magnetic measurements campaigns aimed at validating the model underlying FiDel highlighted the need for improving the harmonic compensation of the third-harmonic (b₃) component of the main LHC dipoles. In this paper, the results of a new measurement campaign for b₃ harmonic compensation, carried out through the new Fast Acquisition Measurement Equipment (FAME), are reported. In particular, the mechanism and the measurement procedure of the compensation, as well as the new perspectives opened by preliminary experimental results, are illustrated.