Optics Flexibility and Matching at LHC Injection

An excellent match between the SPS, the several kilometres long transfer lines and the LHC will be required to minimise emittance blow-up at injection. Several optics changes in the SPS and the LHC injection insertions had to be accommodated in the design phase. The new 3-phase collimation system in the transfer lines results in additional phase advance constraints. It will be important to maintain some tuning range for the LHC commissioning phase and to accommodate possible further optics changes. We analyse the requirements, the constraints, the current status and options to enhance the optics flexibility.