Performance of the 1994/95 SLC final focus system

A major upgrade to the SLC final focus was installed in 1994 to eliminate the dominant third-order aberration of the system, and thereby to reduce the vertical beam size at the IP by a factor of two. At low current, the optimal beam size of about 400 nm is now routinely established, and its sensitivity to orbit variations, to changes of emittance and energy spread, and to other beam parameters has been studied. For intensities above 3/spl times/10/sup 10/ particles per bunch, tuning is more difficult due to increased fluctuations of energy, orbit, and emittances. Nonetheless, the expected beam size of about 600 nm has been observed. New procedures and diagnostics allow easier tuning and optimization of the final focus, and also a first measurement of the emittance increase in the arcs.