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The low-level rf control system currently commissioned throughout the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) LINAC evolved from three design iterations over 1 yr intensive research and development. Its digital hardware implementation is efficient, and has succeeded in achieving a minimum latency of less than 150 ns which is the key for accomplishing an all-digital feedback control for the full bandwidth. The control bandwidth is analyzed in frequency domain and characterized by testing its transient response. The hardware implementation also includes the provision of a time-shared input channel for a superior phase differential measurement between the cavity field and the reference. A companion cosimulation system for the digital hardware was developed to ensure a reliable long-term supportability. A large effort has also been made in the operation software development for the practical issues such as the process automations, cavity filling, beam loading compensation, and the cavity mechanical resonance suppression.

The conceptional design of the proposed linear electron-positron collider TESLA is based on 9-cell 1.3 GHz superconducting niobium cavities with an accelerating gradient of E_acc≥25 MV/m at a quality factor Q₀≥5×10⁹. The design goal for the cavities of the TESLA Test Facility (TTF) linac was set to the more moderate value of E_acc≥15 MV/m. In a first series of 27 industrially produced TTF cavities the average gradient at Q₀  =  5×10⁹ was measured to be 20.1±6.2 MV/m, excluding a few cavities suffering from serious fabrication or material defects. In the second production of 24 TTF cavities, additional quality control measures were introduced, in particular, an eddy-current scan to eliminate niobium sheets with foreign material inclusions and stringent prescriptions for carrying out the electron-beam welds. The average gradient of these cavities at Q₀  =  5×10⁹ amounts to 25.0±3.2 MV/m with the exception of one cavity suffering from a weld defect. Hence only a moderate improvement in production and preparation techniques will be needed to meet the ambitious TESLA goal with an adequate safety margin. In this paper we present a detailed description of the design, fabrication, and preparation of the TESLA Test Facility cavities and their associated components and report on cavity performance in test cryostats and with electron beam in the TTF linac. The ongoing research and development towards higher gradients is briefly addressed.