Performance of the RF Bunch Coalescing System in the Fermilab Main Ring

Both the proton and antiproton bunches which will collide in the Tevatron have longitudinal emittance greater than can be accelerated by the Main Ring from 8 GeV without large loss and emittance growth. To circumvent this restriction, several bunches of smaller intensity are accelerated in the Main Ring to an energy of 150 GeV where these bunches are coalesced into a single high-intensity bunch. Coalescing has possible uses in other applications. Applications could be any time that a beam which has been accelerated by an rf system of one frequency must be captured by another rf frequency. The bunch coalescing system is described and some preliminary coalescing results are shown.