Emittance optimization with dispersion free steering at LEP

Residual vertical dispersion can be a significant performance limitation for the LEP collider because the associated vertical emittance increase reduces the luminosity of the machine. To make the search for orbits yielding small vertical emittances fast and deterministic, a simultaneous correction of the closed orbit and the residual dispersion was implemented at LEP. The principle of the correction and the resulting performance gains are discussed.