CERN Accelerating science

Article
Title	First Acceleration with Superconducting RF Cavities at ISAC-II
Author(s)	Laxdal, Robert E ; Fong, Ken ; Marchetto, Marco ; Rawnsley, William R ; Verzilov, Victor
Affiliation	(TRIUMF, Vancouver)
Publication	2005
In:	21st IEEE Particle Accelerator Conference, Knoxville, TN, USA, 16 - 20 May 2005, pp.662
Subject category	Accelerators and Storage Rings
Abstract	We have demonstrated the first acceleration of ions with superconducting rf at TRIUMF/ISAC. Alpha particles from a radioactive source were accelerated from 2.8MeV through the ISAC-II medium beta cryomodule to a maximum energy of 9.4 MeV. The four 106 MHz quarter wave cavities (beta_o=7%) were set to the ISAC-II specified gradient of 6 MV/m (Leff=18cm, Ep=30MV/m and Veff=1.08MV) with a cavity power of about 6W per cavity. The final particle energy spectra was measured with a silicon detector. The initial alpha energy corresponds to a velocity of beta=3.9% giving an expected T/To efficiency of 0.48, 0.76, 0.92 and 0.99 for the four cavities respectively and an expected final energy of 9.6MeV. The experimental set-up including details of the source and diagnostic boxes and the detector electronics are described. Beam simulations of the unbunched, uncollimated beam indicate a unique spectral fingerprint that can be used to unambiguously determine each cavity voltage.