Fabrication, Tuning, Treatment and Testing of Two 3.5 Cell Photo-Injektor Cavities for the ELBE Linac

As part of a CRADA (Cooperative Research and Development Agreement) between Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and Thomas Jefferson Lab National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF) we have fabricated and tested two 1.3 GHz 3.5 cell photo-injector cavities from polycrystalline RRR niobium and large grain RRR niobium, respectively. The cavity with the better performance will replace the presently used injector cavity in the ELBE linac [1]. The cavities have been fabricated and pre-tuned at TJNAF, while the more sophisticated final field tuning; the adjustment of the external couplings and the field profile measurement of transverse electric modes for RF focusing [2] was done at HZDR. The following standard surface treatment and the vertical test were carried out at TJNAF’s production facilities. A major challenge turned out to be the rinsing of the cathode cell, which has small opening (Ø10 mm) to receive the cathode stalk. Another unexpected problem encountered after etching, since large visible defects appeared in the least accessible cathode cell. This contribution reports about our experiences, initial results and the on-going diagnostic work to understand and fix the problems.