Design, fabrication and first beam tests of the C-band RF acceleration unit at SINAP

C-band RF acceleration is a crucial technology for the compact Free Electron Laser (FEL) facility at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences. A project focusing on C-band RF acceleration technology was launched in 2008, based on high-gradient accelerating structures powered by klystron and pulse compressor units. The target accelerating gradient is 40 MV/m or higher. Recently one prototype of C-band RF unit, consisting of a 1.8 m accelerating structure and a klystron with a TE0115 mode pulse compressor, has been tested with high-power and electron beam. Stable operation at 40 MV/m was demonstrated and, 50 MV/m approached by the end of the test. This paper introduces the C-band R&D program at SINAP and presents the experiment results of high-power and beam tests.