Theory and Practice of Cavity RF Test Systems

Over the years Jefferson Lab staff members have performed about 2500 cold cavity tests on about 500 different superconducting cavities. Most of these cavities were later installed in 73 different cryomodules, which were used in three different accelerators. All of the cavities were tested in our vertical test area. About 25% of the cryomodules were tested in our cryomodule test facility and later commissioned in an accelerator. The remainder of the cryomodules were tested and commissioned after they were installed in their respective accelerator. This paper is an overview which should provide a practical background in the RF systems used to test the cavities as well as provide the mathematics necessary to convert the raw pulsed or continuous wave RF signals into useful information such as gradient, quality factor, RF-heat loads and loaded Q?s. Additionally, I will provide the equations necessary for determining the measurement error associated with these values.