EuPRAXIA-DN Fellow Phani Deep Meruga receives BeamNetUS 2026 award for X-band LLRF experiments at SLAC
EuPRAXIA-DN Fellow Phani Deep Meruga, from Instrumentation Technologies in Slovenia, has been selected for a 2026 BeamNetUS award to carry out experimental research at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the United States. His proposal, entitled Testing and Validation of a Low Noise X-Band Low-Level RF (LLRF) Prototype at the XTA/NLCTA Facility, SLAC, has been officially selected as part of the BeamNetUS 2026 awards programme. The award provides access to the experimental facility and beam time, technical assistance from the SLAC team, and financial support for travel and accommodation.
BeamNetUS is a network connecting researchers with accelerator test facilities at US national laboratories, facilitating access to experimental infrastructure, technical expertise and opportunities for new scientific collaborations. The programme provides researchers with the opportunity to carry out experiments that benefit from specialised accelerator facilities and their technical capabilities.
The experimental campaign is scheduled for 1–11 December 2026 at SLAC's Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator (NLCTA), where the team will evaluate a preliminary industrialised version of the X-band LLRF.
The system combines low-noise RF electronics, high-speed digitisation at 250 MS/s, FPGA-based signal processing and precise RF signal generation. It is designed to control and stabilise the amplitude and phase of short RF pulses operating at 11.424 GHz, supporting the demanding requirements of high-gradient X-band LINACs.
Previous laboratory characterisation demonstrated amplitude stability of approximately 0.01% RMS and phase stability better than 0.01° RMS. The prototype was subsequently tested at the TEX facility of INFN-LNF in Frascati, Italy, under operational X-band RF conditions. Building on these results, the new experimental campaign at SLAC will investigate the performance of the preliminary industrialised version under realistic accelerator operating conditions.
The planned measurements include pulse-to-pulse amplitude and phase stability, phase noise, timing stability, and the influence of different RF pulse repetition rates on system performance. The team will also assess RF stability at the klystron output and compare the results with previous laboratory and experimental measurements to identify potential limitations and opportunities for further improvement.
The experiments represent an important step towards validating the developed technology for practical accelerator applications. In particular, the results could contribute to the further development of RF control and diagnostic systems for the EuPRAXIA@SPARC_LAB linac at INFN-LNF and other future X-band accelerator facilities.
The award also highlights the close collaboration between academic research and industry within EuPRAXIA-DN, demonstrating how technologies developed through doctoral research can progress towards industrial applications and experimental validation at major international research facilities.
Congratulations to Phani on this achievement! We look forward to hearing about the results of the experimental campaign at SLAC.
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