Commissioning of the booster injector synchrotron for the HIGS facility at duke university

A booster synchrotron (Duke booster) has been built and recently commissioned at Duke University Free Electron Laser Laboratory (DFELL) as part of the High Intensity Gamma-ray Source (HIGS) facility upgrade. HIGS is collaboration between the DFELL and Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL). The booster provides top-off injection into the Duke FEL storage ring in the energy range of 0.24 -1.2 GeV. When operating the Duke storage ring to produce high energy Compton gamma ray beams above 20 MeV, continuous electron beam loss occurs. The lost electrons are replenished by the booster injector operating in the top-off mode. The present operational injection and extraction rate of the machine allows us to routinely replenish up to 5-10⁸ electrons per second. The compactness of the booster posed a challenge for its development and commissioning. The booster has been successfully commissioned in 2006. This paper reports experience of commissioning and initial operation of the booster.