We have performed detailed electromagnetic and beam
dynamics studies of a 352.21 MHz drift-tube linac (DTL) that will accelerate
a 30 mA CW proton beam from 3 to 20 MeV. At such high currents space charge
effects are important, and therefore the effect of linear as well as
non-linear space charge has been studied (corresponding to uniform and
Gaussian initial beam distributions), in order to avoid space charge
instabilities. To validate the electromagnetic simulations, a 1.2 m long
prototype of the DTL was fabricated. RF measurements performed on the
prototype were in good agreement with the simulations. A detailed simulation
study of beam halos was also performed, which showed that beyond a current
of 10 mA, significant longitudinal beam halos are excited even for a
perfectly matched beam, whereas for a mis-matched beam transverse beam halos
are also excited. However, these do not lead to any beam loss within the
DTL.