Two volume sources equipped with DESY and CERN plasma generators and a low voltage electron dump were operated at 45 kV in the Linac4 tunnel and on a dedicated test stand. These volume sources delivered approximately 20 mA and ensured the commissioning of the Radio Frequency Quadrupole accelerator and of the first section of the Drift Tube Linac. CERN's prototype of a cesiated surface source equipped with this electron dump was operated continuously from November 2013 to April 2014 on the ion source test stand and is being commissioned in the Linac4 tunnel. Before cesiation, the prototype conditioned in volume mode provided up to 30 mA H- beam. Short cesiations, of the order of 10 mg effectively reduced the intensity of co-extracted electrons down to 2 - 8 times the H- current; this cesiated surface operation mode delivered up to 60 mA H- beam. An H- beam of the order of 40 mA was sustained up to four weeks operation with 500 mu s pulses at 1.2s spacing. A new extraction was designed to match these beam properties. A copy of BNL's magnetron produced at CERN was tested at BNL and delivered at 40 kV H- beam exceeding Linac4's nominal intensity of 80 mA.In this contribution, the performances, dynamic response to cesiation, stability and availability of these prototypes are described. The needed optimization of the emittance of H- beam above 40 mA is presented, which requires an evolution of the front end that encompasses implementation of a large ceramic insulator.

CERN's 160 MeV H(-) linear accelerator (Linac4) is a key constituent of the injector chain upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider that is being installed and commissioned. A cesiated surface ion source prototype is being tested and has delivered a beam intensity of 45 mA within an emittance of 0.3 π ⋅ mm ⋅ mrad. The optimum ratio of the co-extracted electron- to ion-current is below 1 and the best production efficiency, defined as the ratio of the beam current to the 2 MHz RF-power transmitted to the plasma, reached 1.1 mA/kW. The H(-) source prototype and the first tests of the new ion source optics, electron-dump, and front end developed to minimize the beam emittance are presented. A temperature regulated magnetron H(-) source developed by the Brookhaven National Laboratory was built at CERN. The first tests of the magnetron operated at 0.8 Hz repetition rate are described.

CERN's Linac4 45 kV H(-) ion sources prototypes are installed at a dedicated ion source test stand and in the Linac4 tunnel. The operation of the pulsed hydrogen injection, RF sustained plasma, and pulsed high voltages are described. The first experimental results of two prototypes relying on 2 MHz RF-plasma heating are presented. The plasma is ignited via capacitive coupling, and sustained by inductive coupling. The light emitted from the plasma is collected by viewports pointing to the plasma chamber wall in the middle of the RF solenoid and to the plasma chamber axis. Preliminary measurements of optical emission spectroscopy and photometry of the plasma have been performed. The design of a cesiated ion source is presented. The volume source has produced a 45 keV H(-) beam of 16-22 mA which has successfully been used for the commissioning of the Low Energy Beam Transport (LEBT), Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator, and chopper of Linac4.