Measuring the Orbit Length of the Tevatron

The orbit length in the Tevatron was measured when coasting beam was first obtained. The method was time-of-flight, using a vernier phase comparison between beam pickup signals and a synthesizer sine wave. Some effort was spent making a stable phase detector so that it would not be a limiting factor. The results exhibited a repeatability of a few Hz at 53 MHz, corresponding to a mean radius measurement to 0.1 mm.