Installation and commissioning of the new 150 KW plant for the elettra RF system upgrade

Elettra is the Italian third generation light source in operation in Trieste since 1993. The project of upgrade of the Elettra RF system has become necessary to provide the needed operating margins when all the insertion devices are operational and in view of possible increases in beam current and energy. The first phase of the project regards one of the four plants, which has been upgraded from 60 to 150 kW cw. The power amplifier has been built combining two 80 kW IOTs (inductive output tubes) by means of a switchless combiner. The amplifier and the power plant components have been installed in the second half of year 2006. A coaxial to waveguide transition has been specially designed to interface the coaxial coupler of the cavity to the waveguide power transmission system, taking into account the risks connected to power from the higher order modes excited by the beam in the cavity. After giving an overview of the project, this paper discusses the technical choices adopted, the tests performed during the installation phase and the commissioning of the new system with beam during machine operation.