Precision intercomparison of beam current monitors at CEBAF

The CEBAF accelerator delivers a CW electron beam at fundamental 1497 MHz, with average beam current up to 200 μA. Accurate, stable nonintercepting beam current monitors are required for: setup/control, monitoring of beam current and beam losses for machine protection and personnel safety, and providing beam current information to experimental users. Fundamental frequency stainless steel RF cavities have been chosen for these beam current monitors. This paper reports on precision intercomparison between two such RF cavities, an Unser monitor, and two Faraday cups, all located in the injector area. At the low beam energy in the injector, it is straightforward to verify the high efficiency of the Faraday cups, and the Unser monitor included a wire through it to permit an absolute calibration. The cavity intensity monitors have proven capable of stable, high precision monitoring of the beam current