First acceleration of a proton beam in a side coupled drift tube linac

We report the first experiment aimed at the demonstration of low-energy protons acceleration by a high-efficiency S-band RF linear accelerator. The proton beam has been accelerated from 7 to 11.6 MeV by a 1 meter long SCDTL (Side Coupled Drift Tube Linac) module powered with 1.3 MW. The experiment has been done in the framework of the Italian TOP-IMPLART (Oncological Therapy with Protons-Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy Linear Accelerator for Radio-Therapy) project devoted to the realization of a proton therapy centre based on a proton linear accelerator for intensity modulated cancer treatments to be installed at IRE-IFO, the largest oncological hospital in Rome. It is the first proton therapy facility employing a full linear accelerator scheme based on high-frequency technology.