Superconducting cavity driving with FPGA controller

The digital control of several superconducting cavities for a linear accelerator is presented. The laboratory setup of the CHECHIA cavity and ACC1 module of the VU-FEL TTF in DESY-Hamburg have both been driven by a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based system. Additionally, a single 9-cell TESLA Superconducting cavity of the FNPL Photo Injector at FERMILAB has been remotely controlled from WUT-ISE laboratory with the support of the DESY team using the same FPGA control system. These experiments focused attention on the general recognition of the cavity features and projected control methods. An electrical model of the resonator was taken as a starting point. Calibration of the signal path is considered key in preparation for the efficient driving of a cavity. Identification of the resonator parameters has been proven to be a successful approach in achieving required performance; i.e. driving on resonance during filling and field stabilization during flattop time while requiring reasonable levels of power consumption. Feed-forward and feedback modes were successfully applied in operating the cavities. Representative results of the experiments are presented for different levels of the cavity field gradient. (orig.)