Development of a CW Superconducting RF Booster Cryomodule for Future Light Sources

Abstract

Future light sources based on seeded free electron lasers (FEL) have the potential to increase the soft xray flux by several orders of magnitude with short bunch lengths to probe electron structure and dynamics. A low emittance, high rep-rate radio frequency (RF) photocathode electron gun will generate the electron beam that will require very stringent beam control and manipulation through the superconducting linear accelerator to maintain the high brightness required for an x-ray FEL. The initial or booster cavities of the superconducting radio frequency (SRF) linear accelerator will require stringent control of transverse kicks and higher order modes (HOM) during the beam manipulation and conditioning that is needed for emittance exchange and bunch compression. This SBIR proposal will develop, fabricate and test a continuous-wave SRF booster cryomodule specifically for this application. Phase I demonstrated the technical feasibility of the project by completing the preliminary SRF cavity and cryomodule design and its integration into an R&D test stand for beam studies at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The five-cell bulk niobium cavities operate at 750 MHz, and generate 10 MV each with strong HOM damping and special care to eliminate transverse kicks due to couplers. Due to continuous-wave operation at fairly modest beam currents and accelerating gradients the complexity of the two cavity cryomodule is greatly reduced compared to an ILC type system. Phase II will finalize the design, and fabricate and test the booster cryomodule. The cryomodule consists of two five-cell cavities that will accelerate megahertz bunch trains with nano-coulomb charge. The accelerating gradient is a very modest 10 MV/m with peak surface fields of 20 MV/m and 42.6 mT. The cryogenic system operates at 2 K with a design dynamic load of 20 W and total required cryogenic capacity of 45 W. The average beam current of up to 1 mA corresponds to a beam power of 10 kW per 5- cell cavity and will require 20 kW of RF power for transmission, control and regulation. The RF power will be supplied by a commercial tetrode. Cryogenic tests will be carried out at LBNL to make use of their test facilities, cryogenics and laser systems, and for future use with beam. Demonstration of this new type of booster cryomodule will open many new applications of SRF linear accelerators.