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Mark Pendleton, et al. The UK’s first and only vertical test facility and associated cleanroom reprocessing suite has been developed, commissioned, and entered steady-state operations at the UKRI-STFC Daresbury Laboratory. The facility is capable of 2 K testing of 3 jacketed SRF cavities in a horizontal configuration per 2-week test cycle. We report on the associated cryogenic, RF, UHV, mechanical, cleanroom, and HPR infrastructure. SRF cavity workflows have been developed to meet the requirements of the ESS high beta cavity project within a newly developed quality management system, SuraBee, in accordance with ISO9001. To support standardisation of measurements across the collaboration, reference cavities have been measured for cross-reference between CEA, DESY, and UKRI-STFC. We further report on commissioning objectives, observations, and continuous improvement activities., Proceedings of the 31st International Linear Accelerator Conference, LINAC2022, Liverpool, UK

A novel vertical test facility has been developed at the STFC Daresbury Laboratory. The VTF is designed to test 3 jacketed SRF cavities in a horizontal configuration in a single cool-down run at 2 K. Cavities were tested at low power levels for HOMs and passband modes, and Q vs E field measurements at high power levels. The specification requires an unloaded Q of 5·10⁹ at a field gradient of 19.9 MV/m. The cavities are cooled with superfluid helium filled into their individual helium jackets. This reduces the liquid helium consumption by more than 70% in comparison with the conventional facilities operational elsewhere. The facility will be used to conduct a 2-year program to qualify 84 high-beta SRF cavities for the European Spallation Source as part of the UK’s in-kind contribution. This paper reports on the commissioning program, along with a detailed discussion of the RF and cryogenic operations and performance of the facility., Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on RF Superconductivity, SRF2021, East Lansing, MI, USA

Proceedings of the 31st International Linear Accelerator Conference, LINAC2022, Liverpool, UK 31st Linear Accelerator Conference, LINAC2022, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 28 Aug 2022 - 2 Sep 2022; [Geneva] : JACoW Publishing, Geneva, Switzerland 212-214 (2022). doi:10.18429/JACoW-LINAC2022-MOPOGE25, The Accelerator and Science and Technology Centre (ASTeC) is responsible for delivering 88 High Beta (HB) cavities as part of the European Spallation Source (ESS) facility in Sweden. The bulk Niobium Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) cavities operate at 704 MHz. They have been fabricated in industry and are currently being tested at Daresbury Laboratory and Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY). They will then be delivered to Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) Saclay, France for integration into cryomodules. To date, 50 cavities have been conditioned and evaluated and 36 cavities have been delivered to CEA. This paper discusses the experiences and testing of the cavities performed to date at both sites., Published by JACoW Publishing, Geneva, Switzerland, [Geneva]

The vertical test stand in use at Daresbury has three cavities loaded horizontally at different heights. The jacketed cavities are supplied with liquid helium from a header tank at the top of the configuration. A few cavities have been tested in different positions and the results have been analysed. The pressure of the helium inside the jacketed cavities is affected by the height of the liquid helium column above the jacket and using results from earlier analysis during cool-down enables the pressure of the cavity to be determined from the frequency of operation. Analysis of the effects may allow for corrections to the frequency to be made. In addition to the above observations there have also been some challenges in the operation at higher power as the phase of the self-excited loop driving the system, has been seen to change. This paper discusses some of the observation, analysis of those observations and challenges that are being addressed in the continuing use of this facility., Proceedings of the 31st International Linear Accelerator Conference, LINAC2022, Liverpool, UK

A novel vertical test facility has been developed, commissioned, and entered steady-state operations at the UKRI-STFC Daresbury Laboratory. The cryostat is designed to test 3 jacketed superconducting RF cavities in a horizontal configuration in a single cool-down run at 2 K. The cavities are cooled with superfluid helium filled into their individual helium jackets. This reduces the liquid helium consumption by more than 70% in comparison with the conventional facilities operational elsewhere. The facility is currently undertaking a 2-year program to qualify 84 high-beta SRF cavities for the ESS (European Spallation Source) as part of the UK’s in-kind contribution. This paper reports on the steady-state operations, along with a detailed discussion of the cryogenic performance of the facility, including that of the cryoplant., Proceedings of the 31st International Linear Accelerator Conference, LINAC2022, Liverpool, UK

CLARA (Compact Linear Accelerator for Research and Applications) is a Free Electron Laser (FEL) test facility under development at Daresbury Laboratory. The principal aim of CLARA is to test advanced FEL schemes which can later be implemented on existing and future short wavelength FELs. We report on the commissioning of the CLARA front end, consisting of a photoinjector and the first linac section, and merger into the existing VELA (Versatile Electron Linear Accelerator) beamline., Proceedings of the 29\textsuperscript{th} Linear Accelerator Conf., LINAC2018, Beijing, China

CLARA is a new FEL test facility being developed at STFC Daresbury Laboratory in the UK. The main motivation for CLARA is to test new FEL schemes that can later be implemented on existing and future short wavelength FELs. Particular focus will be on ultra-short pulse generation, pulse stability, and synchronisation with external sources. The project is now underway and the Front End section (photoinjector and first linac) installation will begin later this year. This paper will discuss the progress with the Front End assembly and also highlighting other topics which are currently receiving significant attention., Proceedings of the 37th International Free Electron Laser Conference, FEL2015, Daejeon, Republic of Korea