Experiences on Counter Applications and Beam Loss Measurement at the GSI Synchrotron

At the GSI Synchrotron (SIS18) and the high-energy beam transfer lines (HEBT) several particle counting detectors of different types are installed. These are connected to one dedicated 128-Channel VME based data acquisition system called 'A Beam Loss Measurement and Scaling System (ABLASS)', which was recently added to the GSI control system. An overview of all its implemented features is given. Experiences gained during daily operation as well as the more sophisticated applications such as high-resolution spill structure analysis with up to 100-kHz sample rate and slow extraction optimization are presented. In addition the SIS18 is going to be the injector for the planned superconducting double ring facility SIS100/300, which is part of the GSI future project, which was recently named FAIR, the international Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research. Therefore the observation of beam losses at the SIS18 produced by the required high currents is essential to prevent activation and vacuum instabilities. The methods for the beam loss measurement are described