High field-gradient cavities loaded with magnetic alloys for synchrotrons

Very high field-gradient has become available by a new magnetic alloy (MA)-loaded cavity developed for high intensity proton synchrotrons. The available RF voltage per core is ten times larger than that of the ordinary ferrite core. The maximum voltage of 20 kV has been achieved by the high-field gradient cavity (HGC) of 40 cm in length. Because the intrinsic Q-value of the MA core is low, acceleration without any tuning system also becomes possible. The first beam acceleration test using the HGC has been performed successfully at the HIMAC (Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba). Furthermore, the dual harmonic RF and barrier bucket experiments have been carried out. Another advantage of the MA-loaded cavity is that it is easy to compensate the beam loading. The feed forward beam compensation was applied for both HGC on the test bench using an electron beam and MA-loaded cavity installed in the AGS for the barrier bucket experiment. A new development for high-Q HGC using a cut core configuration will be also reported.