Commissioning of the DAΦNE beam test facility

The DAΦNE Beam Test Facility (BTF) is a beam transfer line optimized for the production of electron or positron bunches, in a wide range of multiplicities and down to single-electron mode, in the energy range between 50 and 800 MeV. The typical pulse duration is 10 ns and the maximum repetition rate is 50 Hz. The facility design has been optimized for detector calibration purposes. The BTF has been successfully commissioned in February 2002 and started operation in the same year in November. The schemes of operation, the commissioning results, as well as the first users’ experience are reported here.