Acceptance scan technique for the drift tube linac of the spallation neutron source

For high intensity proton accelerators, it is vital to reduce the machine activation by minimizing the beam loss from many sources. One of such sources is longitudinal mismatch. To minimize a potential mismatch, it is important to set accurately the rf set-point (rf field amplitude and phase) of a high-intensity linac such as the drift tube linac (DTL) of the spallation neutron source. A widely used technique called the acceptance scan was studied extensively and applied successfully to tune the DTL tanks since the initial commissioning. From the acceptance scan one can obtain the longitudinal beam profile at the entrance of each DTL tank. But except tank 1, acceptance scan alone cannot determine the incoming beam energy deviation, leading to small uncertainties in the rf set point.