Commissioning and first RF results of the second 3.5 cell SRF gun for ELBE

As in 2007 the first 3.5 cell superconducting radio frequency (SRF) gun was taken into operation at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, it turned out that the specified performance to realize an electron energy of 9.4 MeV has not been achieved. Instead, the resonator of the gun was limited by field emission to about one third of this value and the measured beam parameters remained significantly below its expectations.

However, to demonstrate the full potential of this electron source for the ELBE linear accelerator, a second and slightly modified SRF gun was developed and built in collaboration with Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.

We will report on commissioning and first RF results of this new SRF gun. This includes in particular the characterization of the most important RF properties as well as their comparison with previous vertical test results. Additionally, investigations are presented that try to explain a particle contamination that happened recently during the first cathode transfer.