LANL, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
We will report on the status of two C-band test facilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL): C-band Engineering Research Facility in New Mexico (CERF-NM), and Cathodes and Rf Interactions in Extremes (CARIE). Modern applications such as X-ray sources require accelerators with optimized cost of construction and operation, naturally calling for high-gradient acceleration. At LANL we commissioned a high gradient test stand powered by a 50 MW, 5.712 GHz Canon klystron. CERF-NM is the first high gradient C-band test facility in the United States. It was fully commissioned in 2021. In the last year, multiple C-band high gradient cavities and components were tested at CERF-NM. Currently we work to implement several updates to the test stand including the ability to remotedly operate at high gradient for the round-the-clock high gradient conditioning. Adding capability to operate at cryogenic temperatures is considered. The construction of CARIE will begin in October of 2022. CARIE will house a cryo-cooled copper RF photoinjector with a high quantum-efficiency cathode and a high gradient accelerator section.
