TIFR, Mumbai
BARC, Mumbai
The superconducting LINAC booster, indigenously developed to boost the energy of the heavy ion beams from the 14 MV Pelletron accelerator at TIFR, Mumbai, has been fully operational since July 2007. The LINAC consists of seven modular cryostats, each housing four lead plated quarter wave resonators, designed for an optimum velocity β0=0.1 at an operating frequency of 150 MHz. In order to maintain a stable phase and amplitude of the electric field in the cavity, the RF controller cards based on a self-excited loop (SEL) with phase and amplitude feedback have been developed indigenously. The cryogenic system for the LINAC has been designed for a typical power dissipation of 6 W in each resonator. Initial beam trials have yielded average energy gain of 0.4 MV/q per cavity corresponding to 80% of the design value. Operational experience of the LINAC, namely, empirically devised procedures for the acceleration of different beams and RF settings, and associated developments are presented.
