J. Hansen

Status and operation of the Linac4 ion source prototypes.

CERNs Linac4 45 kV H(-) ion sources prototypes are installed at a dedicated ion source test stand and in the Linac4 tunnel. The operation of the pulsed hydrogen injection, RF sustained plasma, and pulsed high voltages are described. The first experimental results of two prototypes relying on 2 MHz RF-plasma heating are presented. The plasma is ignited via capacitive coupling, and sustained by inductive coupling. The light emitted from the plasma is collected by viewports pointing to the plasma chamber wall in the middle of the RF solenoid and to the plasma chamber axis. Preliminary measurements of optical emission spectroscopy and photometry of the plasma have been performed. The design of a cesiated ion source is presented. The volume source has produced a 45 keV H(-) beam of 16-22 mA which has successfully been used for the commissioning of the Low Energy Beam Transport (LEBT), Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator, and chopper of Linac4.

H- Ion Sources For CERN’s Linac4

The specifications set to the Linac4 ion source are: H− ion pulses of 0.5 ms duration, 80 mA intensity and 45 keV energy within a normalized emittance of 0.25 mmmrad RMS at a repetition rate of 2 Hz. In 2010, during the commissioning of a prototype based on H− production from the plasma volume, it was observed that the powerful co-extracted electron beam inherent to this type of ion source could destroy its electron beam dump well before reaching nominal parameters. However, the same source was able to provide 80 mA of protons mixed with a small fraction of H2+ and H3+ molecular ions. The commissioning of the radio frequency quadrupole accelerator (RFQ), beam chopper and H− beam diagnostics of the Linac4 are scheduled for 2012 and its final installation in the underground building is to start in 2013. Therefore, a crash program was launched in 2010 and reviewed in 2011 aiming at keeping the original Linac4 schedule with the following deliverables: Design and production of a volume ion source prototype sui...

Linac4 H⁻ ion sources.

CERNs 160 MeV H(-) linear accelerator (Linac4) is a key constituent of the injector chain upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider that is being installed and commissioned. A cesiated surface ion source prototype is being tested and has delivered a beam intensity of 45 mA within an emittance of 0.3 π ⋅ mm ⋅ mrad. The optimum ratio of the co-extracted electron- to ion-current is below 1 and the best production efficiency, defined as the ratio of the beam current to the 2 MHz RF-power transmitted to the plasma, reached 1.1 mA/kW. The H(-) source prototype and the first tests of the new ion source optics, electron-dump, and front end developed to minimize the beam emittance are presented. A temperature regulated magnetron H(-) source developed by the Brookhaven National Laboratory was built at CERN. The first tests of the magnetron operated at 0.8 Hz repetition rate are described.

CERN’s Linac4 H− sources: Status and operational results

Two volume sources equipped with DESY and CERN plasma generators and a low voltage electron dump were operated at 45 kV in the Linac4 tunnel and on a dedicated test stand. These volume sources delivered approximately 20 mA and ensured the commissioning of the Radio Frequency Quadrupole accelerator and of the first section of the Drift Tube Linac. CERN’s prototype of a cesiated surface source equipped with this electron dump was operated continuously from November 2013 to April 2014 on the ion source test stand and is being commissioned in the Linac4 tunnel. Before cesiation, the prototype conditioned in volume mode provided up to 30 mA H− beam. Short cesiations, of the order of 10 mg effectively reduced the intensity of co-extracted electrons down to 2 - 8 times the H− current; this cesiated surface operation mode delivered up to 60 mA H− beam. An H− beam of the order of 40 mA was sustained up to four weeks operation with 500 μs pulses at 1.2s spacing. A new extraction was designed to match these beam pro...

Measurement of optical emission from the hydrogen plasma of the Linac4 ion source and the SPL plasma generator

At CERN, a non caesiated H− ion volume source derived from the DESY ion source is being commissioned. For a proposed High Power Superconducting Proton Linac (HP‐SPL), a non caesiated plasma generator was designed to operate at the two orders of magnitude larger duty factor required by the SPL. The commissioning of the plasma generator test stand and the plasma generator prototype are completed and briefly described. The 2 MHz RF generators (100 kW, 50 Hz repetition rate) was successfully commissioned; its frequency and power will be controlled by arbitrary function generators during the 1 ms plasma pulse. In order to characterize the plasma, RF‐coupling, optical spectrometer, rest gas analyzer and Langmuir probe measurements will be used. Optical spectrometry allows direct comparison with the currently commissioned Linac4 H− ion source plasma. The first measurements of the optical emission of the Linac4 ion source and of the SPL plasma generator plasmas are presented.