Stabilized operation of the improvement of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ)

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ) had resonance control instabilities at duty factors higher than approximately four percent. Systematic investigations have been carried out to understand the cause of the instability and to ensure the operational stability of the RFQ. The most critical source of the instability is revealed to be an interaction between hydrogen released by beam bombardments and the RFQ RF field resulting in a discharge, which consumes additional RF power and could cause the RFQ to operate in an unstable region. This paper reports improvement of the SNS RFQ operational stability based on the findings during the SNS operation.