PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED PURE COPPER RADIO FREQUENCY QUADRUPOLE BY LOW-POWER RF AND HIGH-FIELD GRADIENT TESTS

This paper presents the continuous results of investi-gations on additive manufacturing (AM) in the field of particle accelerators, conducted within the framework of the I.FAST (Innovation Fostering in Accelerator Science and Technology) EU project. AM, particularly Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF), is demonstrating unique production capabilities for accelerator components. As a proof-of-principle, a full-size pure copper Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) was successfully manufac-tured earlier. Low-power RF tests and bead-pull meas-urements performed on this prototype confirmed the precise electromagnetic field distribution, validating design accuracy and repeatability. Furthermore, high field gradient tests conducted in the CERN's DC pulsed measurement system showed that AM copper electrodes can sustain gradients higher than 31 MV/m for 136 μm gap. These promising results highlight the transforma-tive potential of AM in producing high-frequency accel-erator components, advancing both precision and relia-bility.