STATUS OF THE ALPI LOW-BETA SECTION UPGRADE

The low-beta section of the ALPI linac at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro is being upgraded in order to double its energy gain from about 10 MV to 20 MV. This upgrade, performed with a rather limited investment in the background of the standard accelerator activities, is based on the replacement of some rf system components and minor modifications to the cryostats. The cavities, working at 80 MHz, require a 3 dB rf bandwidth of 15 Hz (obtained by means of strong overcoupling) to be locked in the presence of the large Helium pressure fluctuations of ALPI. Their average gradient, although exceeding 6 MV/m at the nominal 7 W power, is presently kept around 3 MV/m during operation, limited by the maximum available rf power in the linac. The ongoing upgrade requires the modification of all low-beta cryomodules to allow new, liquid Nitrogen cooled rf couplers and new, 1 kW amplifiers. A fully equipped prototype cryostat with four, beta=0.047 QWRs has been constructed and tested on line, and operated at 6 MV/m reaching or exceeding all design goals.