| | The superconducting linac PIAVE-ALPI includes a low-beta
section made of 20 bulk niobium quarter wave resonators,
working at 80 MHz, with beta=0.047 and 0.055. Originally
designed for operation at 3 MV/m with 7 W RF power,
their high Q allows significantly higher gradient, limited
at present by the existing RF system capabilities. An
upgrade program has started at LNL that includes the
construction of 4 additional cavities, the adoption of 1
kW RF power amplifiers and modifications of the
cryostats that will allow for cooling of the RF couplers.
The final goal is to increase the voltage gain in the low-beta
section from the present value of ~10 to above 20
MeV/q, allowing efficient acceleration of heavy ions with
mass number around 200. | |