Evaluation of Performance, Reliability, and Risk for High Peak Power RF Sources from S-band through X-band for Advanced Accelerator Applications
Abstract Not Provided
Accelerators,ACCSYS↗
Engineering topics
Vlieks, A E
Publications and source records attributed to Vlieks, A E.
An X-Band Gun Test Area at SLAC
The X-Band Test Area (XTA) is being assembled in the NLCTA tunnel at SLAC to serve as a test facility for new RF guns. The first gun to be tested will be an upgraded version of the 5.6 cell, 200 MV/m peak field X-band gun designed at SLAC in 2003 for the Compton Scattering experiment run in ASTA. This new version includes some features implemented in 2006 on the LCLS gun such as racetrack couplers, increased mode separation and elliptical irises. These upgrades were developed in collaboration with LLNL since the same gun will be used in an injector for a LLNL Gamma-ray Source. Our beamline includes an X-band acceleration section which takes the electron beam up to 100 MeV and an electron beam measurement station. Other X-Band guns such as the UCLA Hybrid gun will be characterized at our facility.
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
The Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator's RF Pulse Compression And Transmission
The overmoded rf transmission and pulsed power compression system for SLAC's Next Linear Collider (NLC) program requires a high degree of transmission efficiency and mode purity to be economically feasible. To this end, a number of new, high power components and systems have been developed at X-band, which transmit rf power in the low loss, circular TE01 mode with negligible mode conversion. In addition, a highly efficient SLED-II* pulse compressor has been developed and successfully tested at high power. The system produced a 200 MW, 250 ns wide pulse with a near-perfect flat-top. In this paper we describe the design and test results of the high power pulse compression system using SLED-II. The NLC rf systems use low loss highly over-moded circular waveguides operating in the TE01 mode. The efficiency of the systems is sensitive to the mode purity of the mode excited inside these guides. We used the so called flower petal mode transducer [2] to excite the TE01 mode. This type of mode transducer is efficient, compact and capable of handling high levels of power. To make more efficient systems, we modified this device by adding several mode selective chokes to act as mode purifiers. To manipulate the rf signals we used these modified mode converters to convert back and forth between over-moded circular waveguides and single-moded WR90 rectangular waveguides. Then, we used the relatively simple rectangular waveguide components to do the actual manipulation of rf signals. For example, two mode transducers and a mitered rectangular waveguide bend comprise a 90 degree bend. Also, a magic tee and four mode transducers would comprise a four-port-hybrid, etc. We will discuss the efficiency of an rf transport system based on the above methodology. We also used this methodology in building the SLEDII pulse compression system. At SLAC we built 4 of these pulse systems. In this paper we describe the SLEDII system and compare the performance of these 4 systems at SLAC. We report the experimental procedures used to measure their performance as well as the results of high power tests.
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
Upgrade of the SLAC SLED II Pulse Compression System Based on Recent High Power Tests
In the Next Linear Collider (NLC) it is expected that the high power rf components be able to handle peak power levels in excess of 400 MW. We present recent results of high power tests designed to investigate the RF breakdown limits of the X-band pulse compression system used at SLAC. (SLED-II). Results of these tests show that both the TE{sub 01}-TE{sub 10} mode converter and the 4-port hybrid have a maximum useful power limit of 220-250 MW. Based on these tests, modifications of these components have been undertaken to improve their peak field handling capability. Results of these modifications will be presented. As part of an international effort to develop a new 0.5-1.5 TeV electron-positron linear collider for the 21st century, SLAC has been working towards a design, referred to as 'The Next Linear Collider' (NLC), which will operate at 11.424 GHz and utilize 50-75 MW klystrons as rf power sources. One of the major challenges in this design, or any other design, is how to generate and efficiently transport extremely high rf power from a source to an accelerator structure. SLAC has been investigating various methods of 'pulse compressing' a relatively wide rf pulse ({ge} 1 {mu}s) from a klystron into a narrower, but more intense, pulse. Currently a SLED-II pulse compression scheme is being used at SLAC in the NLC Test Accelerator (NLCTA) and in the Accelerator Structures Test Area (ASTA) to provide high rf power for accelerator and component testing. In ASTA, a 1.05 {mu}s pulse from a 50 MW klystron was successfully pulse compressed to 205 MW with a pulse width of 150 ns. Since operation in NLC will require generating and transporting rf power in excess of 400 MW it was decided to test the breakdown limits of the SLED-II rf components in ASTA with rf power up to the maximum available of 400 MW. This required the combining of power from two 50 MW klystrons and feeding the summed power into the SLED-II pulse compressor. Results from this experiment demonstrated that two of the key components of SLED-II; the Magic Tee and the 'Flower Petal' mode converter (converts between TE{sub 10} rectangular and TE{sub 01} circular modes), were not robust enough at higher power levels. Because of this, a major effort is underway to upgrade the existing devices to operate stably at the higher power levels, and also to investigate new components, which have inherently low field enhancement in their design and therefore more robust.
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
Precision X-Band Linac Technologies for Nuclear Photonics Gamma-Ray Sources
Nuclear photonics is an emerging field of research requiring new tools, including high spectral brightness, tunable gamma-ray sources; high photon energy, ultrahigh-resolution crystal spectrometers; and novel detectors. This presentation focuses on the precision linac technology required for Compton scattering gamma-ray light sources, and on the optimization of the laser and electron beam pulse format to achieve unprecedented spectral brightness. Within this context, high-gradient X-band technology will be shown to offer optimal performance in a compact package, when used in conjunction with the appropriate pulse format, and photocathode illumination and interaction laser technologies. The nascent field of nuclear photonics is enabled by the recent maturation of new technologies, including high-gradient X-band electron acceleration, robust fiber laser systems, and hyper-dispersion CPA. Recent work has been performed at LLNL to demonstrate isotope-specific detection of shielded materials via NRF using a tunable, quasi-monochromatic Compton scattering gamma-ray source operating between 0.2 MeV and 0.9 MeV photon energy. This technique is called Fluorescence Imaging in the Nuclear Domain with Energetic Radiation (or FINDER). This work has, among other things, demonstrated the detection of {sup 7}Li shielded by Pb, utilizing gamma rays generated by a linac-driven, laser-based Compton scattering gamma-ray source developed at LLNL. Within this context, a new facility is currently under construction at LLNL, with the goal of generating tunable {gamma}-rays in the 0.5-2.5 MeV photon energy range, at a repetition rate of 120 Hz, and with a peak brightness in the 10{sup 20} photons/(s x mm{sup 2} x mrad{sup 2} x 0.1% bw).
42 ENGINEERING↗
An All Metal High Power Circularly Polarized 100 MW RF Load
A compact RF load has been designed using a cascaded array of lossy radial RF chokes to dissipate 100 MW peak and 8 kW average power uniformly along the length of the load. Operation in the circularly polarized Te{_}11 mode assures uniform dissipation azimuthally as well.
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
Rf System for the NLCTA
This paper describes an X-Band RF system for the Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator. The RF system consists of a 90 MeV injector and a 540 MeV linac. The main components of the injector are two low-Q single-cavity prebunchers and two 0.9-m-long detuned accelerator sections. The linac system consists of six 1.8-m-long detuned and damped detuned accelerator sections powered in pairs. The rf power generation, compression, delivery, distribution and measurement systems consist of klystrons, SLEDII energy compression systems, rectangular waveguides, magic-T's, and directional couplers. The phase and amplitude for each prebuncher is adjusted via a magic-T type phase shifter/attenuator. Correct phasing between the two 0.9 m accelerator sections is obtained by properly aligning the sections and adjusting two squeeze type phase shifters. Bunch phase and bunch length can be monitored with special microwave cavities and measurement systems. The design, fabrication, microwave measurement, calibration, and operation of the sub-systems and their components are briefly presented.
43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗