COMMISSIONING OF AN ACCELERATOR: TOOLS AND MANAGEMENT

Throughout the life of an accelerator project, the commissioning is a very important and exciting phase. It is preceded by a long period of design, calculations, magnetic measurements, installation, and alignment. We want the commissioning stage to be successful and fast; that is, attaining rapidly the set goals and making the machine available for impatient users. This paper gathers the experience of several commissioning phases for different types of accelerators such as SNS, JPARC, and LHC, as well as synchrotron light sources such as DIAMOND, SOLEIL, SSRF, and LCLS. The importance of preparation for commissioning on both technical and personnel levels will be covered. I will also talk about the concept of stages, anticipation of problems, and early involvement of many specialists in addition to accelerator physicists and future accelerator operators. Furthermore, I will outline the importance of having a control system that is practical, fast, and has the capacity to offer high level automated applications. Finally, I will highlight the indispensable role of diagnostics for the first injection and first turns of the beam