Linear Optics From Closed Orbits (LOCO): An Introduction

The LOCO code is used to find and correct errors in the linear optics of storage rings. The original FORTRAN code was written to correct the optics of the NSLS X-Ray ring, and was applied soon thereafter to debug problems with the ALS optics. The ideas used in the code were developed from previous work at SLAC. Several years ago, LOCO was rewritten in MATLAB. As described in this newsletter, the MATLAB version includes a user-friendly interface, with many useful fitting and analysis options. LOCO has been used at many accelerators. Presently, a search for LOCO in the text of papers on the Joint Accelerator Conferences Website yields 107 papers. A comprehensive survey of applications will not be included here. Details of recent results at a few light sources are included in this newsletter. In the past, the quality of LOCO fitting results varied significantly, depending on the storage ring. In particular, the results were mixed for colliding beam facilities, where there tend to be fewer BPMs that in light sources. Fitting rings with less BPM data to constrain the fit optics parameters often led to unreasonably large fit quadrupole gradient variations. Recently, modifications have been made to the LOCO fitting algorithm which leads to much better results when the BPM data does not tightly constrain the fit parameters. The modifications are described in this newsletter, and an example of results with this new algorithm is included.