Cryostat for Testing HIE-Isolde Superconducting RF Cavities

The High Intensity and Energy ISOLDE (HIE-ISOLDE) project is a major upgrade of the existing ISOLDE and REX-ISOLDE facilities at CERN [1], with the objective of increasing the energy and intensity of the delivered radioactive ion beams (RIB). This project aims to fill the request for a more energetic post-accelerated beam by means of a new superconducting (SC) linac based on Quarter Wave Resonators (QWR). A research and development (R&D) programme looking at all the different aspects of the SC linac started in 2008 and continued throughout 2010. The R&D effort has particularly focused on the development of the high β cavities (β = 10.3%) for which the Nb sputtered on Cu substrate technology has been adopted. Two prototype cavities were manufactured and are undergoing RF cold tests. The pre-series cavity manufacturing is under way using 3D forged Cu billets. A single vacuum cryostat was designed and built to test these cavities at liquid helium temperatures. This paper details the main design concepts of the test cryostat as well as the results of the cryogenic behaviour of the complete set-up including the cryostat, RF cavity, tuner, and main coupler.