Design development of the SCDTL structure for the TOP linac

The Side Coupled Drift Tube Linac (SCDTL) is an attractive 3 GHz accelerating structure composed of short DTL tanks coupled together by side coupling cavities, in the course of development of the 200 MeV proton linear accelerator for proton therapy planned for the Terapia Oncologica con Protoni (TOP) program of the Italian National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, ISS). The TOP Linac will be used to boost to 70 MeV the 7 MeV proton beam from a linac injector. Our main concern is to investigate in detail the characteristics of the structure in terms of RF properties of the accelerating mode, like longitudinal and transverse shunt impedance and quality factor, and of the other modes that cause the origin of the tank dispersion curve, in order to stabilize the behaviour under operating conditions. Calculations performed with the computer three-dimensional (3D) codes MAFIA and SOPRANO on the smallest unit of the system (a single DTL tank without coupling cavities) and experimental measurements made on a prototype have shown good agreement. Two possible supporting stem configurations (single stem and two stems 180° apart for each drift tube) were examined and a comparison of the results in both cases are discussed.