Proton Synchrotron Booster

CERN Complex

Current particle and nuclear facilities
LHC	Accelerates protons and heavy ions
LEIR	Accelerates ions
SPS	Accelerates protons and ions
PSB	Accelerates protons
PS	Accelerates protons or ions
Linac 3	Injects heavy ions into LEIR
Linac4	Accelerates ions
AD	Decelerates antiprotons
ELENA	Decelerates antiprotons
ISOLDE	Produces radioactive ion beams
MEDICIS	Produces isotopes for medical purposes

The Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) is the first and smallest circular proton accelerator (a synchrotron) in the accelerator chain at the CERN injection complex, which also provides beams to the Large Hadron Collider.^[1] It contains four superimposed rings with a radius of 25 meters, which receive protons with an energy of 160 MeV from the linear accelerator Linac4 and accelerate them up to 2.0 GeV, ready to be injected into the Proton Synchrotron (PS). Before the PSB was built in 1972, Linac 1 injected directly into the Proton Synchrotron, but the increased injection energy provided by the booster allowed for more protons to be injected into the PS and a higher luminosity at the end of the accelerator chain.

The PSB does not only act as a proton injector for the PS but also provides protons at an energy of 1.4 GeV to On-Line Isotope Mass Separator (ISOLDE), the only experimental facility directly linked to the PSB.