A device for automated phase space measurement of ion beams

Equipment for automated phase–space measurements was developed at the VERA Lab. The measurement of the beam’s intensity distribution, as well as its relative position with respect to the reference orbit is performed at two locations along the beam line. The device basically consists of moveable slits and a beam profile monitor, which are both coordinated and controlled by an embedded controller. The operating system of the controller is based on Linux with real-time extension. It controls the movement of the slits and records the data synchronized to the movement of the beam profile monitor. The data is sent via TCP/IP to the data acquisition system of VERA where visualization takes place. The duration of one phase space measurement is less than 10 s, which allows for using the device during routine beam tuning.