The general RF tuning for IH-DTL linear accelerators

The RF tuning is the most important research for achieving the resonant frequency and the flatness of electric field distributions along the axis of RF accelerating structures. The six different tuning concepts and that impacts on the longitudinal field distributions have been discussed in detail combining the RF tuning process of a 1:2 modeled 20.85 MV compact IH-DTL cavity, which was designed to accelerate proton, helium, oxygen or C4+ from 400 keV/u to 7 MeV/u and used as the linear injector of 430 MeV/u synchrotron [Y.R. Lu, S. Minaev, U. Ratzinger, B. Schlitt, R.Tiede, The Compact 20MV IH-DTL for the Heidelberg Therapy Facility, in: Proceedings of the LINAC Conference, Luebeck, Germany, 2004 [1]; Y.R. Lu, Frankfurt University Dissertation, 2005. [2]] in Heidelberg Heavy Ion Cancer Therapy (HICAT). Some of tuning concepts are also suitable and effective for the tuning of RFQ and/or other RF accelerating structures. Finally good field flatness in IH-DTL cavity has been realized successfully. The experience got from the model cavity tuning benefits real power cavity tuning, which is only needed to be tuned by the plungers. The cavity had a beam commissioning successfully for the initial beam acceleration at the end of 2006.