New RF control system for the 12 GeV energy upgrade of the CEBAF accelerator at Jefferson Lab

The CEBAF Accelerator at Jefferson Lab presently consists of 50 MeV injector, two anti-parallel superconducting linacs and two arcs for transporting beam between the linacs. By the mid-1990s, the accelerator was providing electrons up to 5.75 GeV. The 12 GeV Upgrade is a major accelerator project aimed at doubling the energy by adding 10 (five per linac) new high gradient cryomodules, each providing 100 MV of field. The new cryomodule will consist of eight 7-cell superconducting cavities operating at an average accelerating gradient of 19.5 mv/m and with an external Q = 3.2 x 107 The high gradient, very high quality factor and large Lorentz detuning coefficient (KL up to 4) pose significant challenges beyond what the present analog low level RF (LLRF) control systems can handle reliably; therefore, a new digital LLRF control system has been developed. The main highlights of the new RF Control system include: a RF frontend with low temperature drift and good linearity, a large FPGA platform for digital signal processing, an EPICS Input Output Computer (IOC) using a PC-104 and a digital Self Exciting Loop (SEL) based algorithm. This paper provides an overview of the 6 GeV and 12 GeV Upgrade CEBAF machines, a summary of sources of cavity field variation that drive LLRF system performance, and discusses recent developments and progress in Jefferson Lab's new LLRF system design.