UMD, College Park, Maryland, USA
Nonlinear quasi-integrable optics is a promising development on the horizon of high-intensity ring design. Large amplitude-dependent tune spreads, driven by strong nonlinear magnet inserts, lead to decoherence from incoherent tune resonances. This reduces intensity-driven beam loss while quasi-integrability ensures contained orbits. The experimental program at the University of Maryland Electron Ring (UMER) will explore the performance of a strong octupole lattice at a range of operating points. Early measurements use a distributed octupole lattice, consisting of several small octupole inserts. We vary lattice tune to change the quasi-integrable condition as well as probe behavior near different resonant conditions. Simulation results show there should be invariant conservation under carefully chosen conditions. We discuss the effect of steering errors on the lattice performance and on-going efforts to reduce these errors. We also discuss plans for a single-channel insert.
