The RF beam control system for the Brookhaven AGS synchrotron

The new 1.5 GeV Booster synchrotron completes the injector chain for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, RHIC. It enables the AGS to accelerate all heavy ions to 14 GeV/c for collider operation and also in the intensity of the AGS for fixed-target experiments by a factor of four. The ultra-high vacuum enables acceleration of partially stripped ions from the Tandem Van de Graaff to energies sufficient for complete stripping. For high intensities, it accelerates the 200 MeV linac beam in four batches of three bunches per AGS cycle. At 1.5 x 1013 protons per batch, it has the same space charge tune spread as the AGS at 200 MeV. This variety of applications means the Booster must accommodate a very wide range of particle masses and intensities. Since it operates in a Pulse-by-Pulse Modulation mode at 7.5 Hz, the computer controlled functions of time and magnetic field, and the 64 timing triggers of the beam control system take on unique values for each of four PPM users. Beams of 197Au+33 ions and protons have been accelerated in the same PPM cycle