Cavity tuning and beam commissioning of the radio-frequency quadrupole linac for a transportable neutron source

Abstract

A transportable, compact, accelerator-based neutron source is under development at Xi’an Jiaotong University. At the heart of the linear accelerator is a radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ) unit that has been designed to accelerate a proton beam from 30 keV to 2.5 MeV with a peak current of 12 mA and a duty factor of 3%. Recently, the manufacturing of the RFQ cavity has been completed. Cavity tuning, including field unevenness, resonant frequency, and rf coupling coefficient, was carried out after finishing brazing and assembly. The quadrupole perturbative component was controlled within ±2.0%, and the two dipole components were about ±2.5%. The value of the intrinsic Q was 9609, 89% of that of the theoretical simulation. We have completed the installation of the RFQ experimental setup and performed beam commissioning experiments. The output beam current reached 10.6 mA with a transmission efficiency of 93.8%.