The Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT) of the first Radio-Frequency (RF) load for the DTT Gyrotron system have been successfully completed at Curti Costruzioni Meccaniche in Castel Bolognese (Ravenna, Italy).

The supply, assigned to the Temporary Consortium (RTI) composed of Curti Costruzioni Meccaniche and LT Calcoli, includes four RF loads that will be integrated into the DTT Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) system from the first operational phase. These components are designed to test and condition, in situ, the RF sources (Gyrotrons) - currently under manufacturing by THALES - operating at full power (1 MW for 100 seconds).

The first RF load of the series underwent vacuum tests repeated after four thermal cycles, achieving the required performance (10⁻⁶ mbar), as well as hydraulic tightness tests. The hydraulic circuit was verified up to 10 barg in static pressure, while the helium leak test demonstrated losses below 10⁻¹¹ Pa·m³/s — significantly lower than the limit specified in the technical requirements (10⁻⁸ Pa·m³/s).

Full-power Site Acceptance Tests (SAT) are scheduled to take place at the FALCON facility of EPFL-SPC in Lausanne (Switzerland), to verify the load’s capability to absorb 100% of the microwave power generated by the DTT pre-series Gyrotron (170 GHz / 1 MW / 100 s).