DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW LOW-LEVEL RF-CONTROL-SYSTEM FOR THE S-DALINAC*

The Superconducting DArmstadt electron LINear ACcelerator S-DALINAC has a maximum energy of 130 MeV and beam currents of up to 60 µA. To reach this energy conveniently in cw, superconducting cavities with a high Q at a frequency of 3 GHz are used. In order to achieve a minimum energy spread, the amplitude and phase of the cavities have to be controlled strictly in order to compensate the impact of microphonic perturbations. The existing analog rf control system based on a self exited loop, converts the 3 GHz signals down to the base band. This concept will also be followed by the new digital system currently under design. It is based on an FPGA in the low frequency part, giving a great flexibility in the control algorithm and providing additional diagnostics. We will report on the design concept, the status and the latest results measured with a prototype