High-current CW RFQ's

Technical advances in high-current low-beta accelerators, attributable largely to work going on to develop a space-based neutral-particle-beam system, have spawned new or improved proposals for neutron sources, isotope production facilities and other high-power accelerator applications. Over the past ten years, the radiofrequency Quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator has come of age, supplanting the 0.5-1 MV dc injectors that used to be common to drift-tube linacs and easing the requirements on the first DTL tank. The possibilities of the RFQ, combined with recently demonstrated beamline funnels for combining beams, open up a new range of frequency/current parameter space to accelerator designers. Requirements being placed on RFQ's for high-current high-duty-factor applications are discussed and compared with achievements to date. An overview of new cw RFQ accelerators and proposals is included