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Multiple Beam Triode Driven RF Sources for Accelerator Applications Phase I Final Report

Calabazas Creek Research, Inc, (CCR), in collaboration with Microwave Power Products, Inc. (MPP), formerly Communications & Power Industries, LLC (CPI,) and JP Accelerator Works, Inc. (JPAW), embarked on a program to develop multiple beam triodes to produce RF power from 350 – 800 MHz with an average power exceeding 200 kW. The effort was motivated by the performance of a triode-based RF source which produces 25 kW of UHF power at 90% efficiency. The CCR effort focused on implementing this technology into a multiple beam device to increase the output power while retaining the low cost, compact size, and high efficiency. The program performed extensive simulations indicating that the goals could be achieved, and a prototype multiple beam triode was built, baked, and tested. Unfortunately, a grid to cathode short terminated the testing before the tube could generate RF power. Nevertheless, the effort demonstrated that a multiple beam triode could be designed, built, baked, and energized to high voltage. The multiple beam triode used oxide cathodes, which are only capable of pulsed operation. The multiple beam triode will be rebuilt using dispenser cathodes, which will allow high duty or continuous operation. The grids were also modified to be more robust to avoid previous issues. The MB triode will provide the beam power for RF generation. The RF is generated by surrounding the triode with input and output cavities to convert beam power to RF power. RF cavities to generate 200 kW CW at 350-450 MHz using the MB triode with dispenser cathodes was assembled during the program. The next Phase of this effort is to assemble the multiple beam triode using the subassemblies built in the Phase I program and test with the RF cavities. The Phase I program also initiated design of a higher frequency, higher power multiple beam triode. That design is forecast to produce approximately 500 kW CW from 350 - 500 MHz.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Nonreciprocal Supercurrents in a Field-Free Graphene Josephson Triode

Superconducting diodes are proposed non-reciprocal circuit elements that should exhibit nondissipative transport in one direction while being resistive in the opposite direction. Multiple examples of such devices have emerged in the past couple of years, however their efficiency is typically limited, and most of them require magnetic field to function. Here we present a device achieving efficiencies upwards of 90% while operating at zero field. Our samples consist of a network of three graphene Josephson junctions linked by a common superconducting island, to which we refer as a Josephson triode. The triode is tuned by applying a control current to one of the contacts, thereby breaking the time-reversal symmetry of the current flow. The triode’s utility is demonstrated by rectifying a small (tens of nA amplitude) applied square wave. Finally, we speculate that devices of this type could be realistically employed in the modern quantum circuits.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Development of a Marx Modulator for FNAL Linac

A Marx-topology modulator has been designed and developed at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory under the Proton Improvement Plan (PIP). This modulator replaces the previous triode hard-tube design, increasing reliability, lowering operational costs, and maintaining waveform accuracy. The Marx modulator supplies the anode of the 7835 VHF power triode tube with a 35 kV, 375 Amp, 460 μs pulse at 15 Hz. It consists of 54 individual Marx cells, each containing a 639 μF capacitor charged to 900 Volts, combined in series with IGBT switches to create the desired output waveform. This requires variable rise and fall times, flattening of capacitive droop, and feedforward beam loading compensation. All five 201.25 MHz RF systems have been upgraded to Marx modulators to ensure continued operation of the linear accelerator.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Development of a Marx Modulator for FNAL Linac

A Marx-topology modulator has been designed and developed at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory under the Proton Improvement Plan (PIP). This modulator replaces the previous triode hard-tube design, increasing reliability, lowering operational costs, and maintaining waveform accuracy. The Marx modulator supplies the anode of the 7835 VHF power triode tube with a 35 kV, 375 Amp, 460 µs pulse at 15 Hz. It consists of 54 indi-vidual Marx cells, each containing a 639 µF capacitor charged to 900 Volts, combined in series with IGBT switches to create the desired output waveform. This requires variable rise and fall times, flattening of capaci-tive droop, and feedforward beam loading compensation. All five 201.25 MHz RF systems have been upgraded to Marx modulators to ensure continued operation of the linear accelerator.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

The effect of filament peaking on electron beam weld quality

Electron beam welding uses high intensity beams that are generated by an electron emitting cathode under high vacuum conditions. The cathode, typically a ribbon or wire filament of refractory metal, must be heated to sufficiently high temperatures for electron emission to occur and must be carefully controlled to produce the desired beam current while at the same time optimizing filament lifetime. Traditional methods for doing this in commonly used triode gun assemblies consist of first finding the filament knee point in the filament current versus beam current relationship that produces the desired beam current for a given beam voltage. The filament current is then increased by some amount, typically 5–10%, per conventional wisdom to produce a peaked beam. This investigation studies and quantifies the beam and weld quality produced by underkneed and overpeaked filaments using electron beam diagnostics to measure the power density distribution of these beams. Underkneed filaments are shown to have power densities that drop off very quickly below the traditional knee, resulting in poor weld penetration. Kneed filaments do not reach the full beam intensity and also produce shallow welds. Increasing the filament current 10% above the traditional knee was shown to produce a circular Gaussian-like beam with peaked intensity optimized for welding and for filament lifetime. Further increases in the filament current that produce overpeaked beams do not significantly change the beam or weld quality and would only contribute to a reduced filament lifetime.

Electron Beam Welding↗

High efficiency RF sources developments

Calabazas Creek Research, Inc. (CCR) and its collaborators are developing high efficiency RF sources operating from a few hundred MHz to C-Band and power levels from tens to hundreds of kilowatts with the goal of providing MW-relevant sources. The efficiencies approach or exceed 80% with projected costs as low as $0.50/ Watt. Sources under development include magnetrons with phase and amplitude control, single and multi-beam klystrons, multi-beam power grid tubes, and multiple beam IOTs. A magnetron system achieved more than 80% efficiency with fast amplitude control using modulation of the phase locking signal. This would be a low cost, high efficiency RF source for superconducting accelerators. An L-Band, single beam klystron was built with simulated efficiency of 80%. The klystron has yet to be tested to confirm the simulation results. CCR is currently developing a multi-beam klystron to produce more than 200 kW CW at 80% efficiency. Also in development is a multiple beam triode to produce 200 kW CW from 300 MHz to approximately 1 GHz. Not only does the simulated efficiency exceed 75%, but it would be the lowest cost RF source in this frequency range. Finally, CCR recently concluded research for a multiple beam IOT at 700 MHz using third harmonic drive to boost efficiency toward 85%. Successful development and transition to production of these sources will significantly alter the cost/performance landscape for RF power generation.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Schottky Junction Vertical Channel GaN Static Induction Transistor with a Sub‐Micrometer Fin Width

Abstract GaN‐based vertical transistors have demonstrated its excellent properties for high‐power and high‐frequency electronic devices. This work introduces a GaN‐based static induction transistor (SIT) which is another form of vertical GaN transistors without requiring any p ‐type GaN and gate dielectrics for its operation. Processing strategy to generate the GaN SIT with a sub‐micrometer fin width involves photoresist (PR)‐assisted planarization with an understanding of dry etch parameters for the planar PR surface. The efficacy of this process is demonstrated by the device's triode‐like output characteristics with high current density (0.65 kA cm −2 ) and low ON resistance (1.48 mΩ cm 2 ) at 1 V of drain voltage. In addition, the electrical properties such as current density and modulation are examined depending on the fin width of GaN SIT. The result reveals that the size reduction in the GaN SIT utilizing the sub‐micrometer fin as a channel could increase the current modulation, but it could decrease the current density because of the raised potential minima due to the depletion region overlap. It is believed that the GaN SIT demonstrating high blocking voltage and low ON resistance would present a very promising class of transistor for next‐generation high‐power and high‐frequency electronics.

Chun, Jaeyi↗

Gate-Tunable Semiconductor Heterojunctions from 2D/3D van der Waals Interfaces

Van der Waals (vdW) semiconductors are attractive for highly scaled devices and heterogeneous integration since they can be isolated into self-passivated, two-dimensional (2D) layers that enable superior electrostatic control. These attributes have led to numerous demonstrations of field-effect devices ranging from transistors to triodes. By exploiting the controlled, substitutional doping schemes in covalently-bonded, three-dimensional (3D) semiconductors and the passivated surfaces of 2D semiconductors, one can construct devices that can exceed performance metrics of “all-2D” vdW heterojunctions. Here, we demonstrate, 2D/3D semiconductor heterojunctions using MoS2 as the prototypical 2D semiconductor laid upon Si and GaN as the 3D semiconductor layers. By tuning the Fermi levels in MoS2, we demonstrate devices that concurrently exhibit over seven orders of magnitude modulation in rectification ratios and conductance. Our results further suggest that the interface quality does not necessarily affect Fermi-level tuning at the junction opening up possibilities for novel 2D/3D heterojunction device architectures

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Electron Emission Properties of Submicron Semiconductor Particles

The electron emission properties of submicron Si, GaAs, InSb, and InAs semiconductor particles and their multigrain structures have been investigated. The effect of the properties of nanoparticles on the field and secondary emissions has been established. A scanning electron microscopy-based method for measuring the secondary emission coefficient of semiconductors has been proposed. The effect of photoexcitation of the multigrain structure of submicron semiconductor particles on their secondary emission properties has been investigated by the vacuum triode method.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

High Efficiency, Low Cost RF Sources for Accelerators and Colliders

Calabazas Creek Research, Inc. (CCR) and its collaborators are developing high efficiency, low cost RF sources. Phase and Amplitude Controlled Magnetrons: CCR, Fermilab, and Communications & Power Industries, LLC (CPI) recently developed a 100 kW, 1.3 GHz magnetron system with amplitude and phase control. The system operated at more than 80% efficiency and demonstrated rapid control of amplitude and phase. Multiple Beam Triodes: CCR, in collaboration with CPI and JP Accelerator Works, Inc., is developing 200 kW, pulsed and CW RF sources from 350 to 700 MHz with projected efficiencies exceeding 80% and cost of $0.50/Watt. Prototype tubes are scheduled for tests in spring 2021. High Efficiency Klystrons:CCR, CPI, and Leidos, Inc. are building a 1.3 GHz, 100 kW klystron operating at 80% efficiency. High power testing is scheduled for summer 2021. Multiple Beam IOTs: CCR and Georgia Tech Research Institute are developing MBIOTs with simplified input coupling and high efficiency. Simulations indicate that 3rd harmonic drive power can increase the efficiency 8-10 %. The program is developing a prototype tube to produce 200 kW peak, 100 kW average power at 704 MHz.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

High Efficiency Travelling Wave X-Band Linac With Tunable Output Energy

We are designing a compact and efficient electron linac with 500 W of average beam power and beam energy tunable from 5 to 10 MeV. The accelerator is of travelling wave type, and has little RF power reflected back to the RF source, eliminating the need for a large, lossy isolator. The structure is powered by a compact commercial 1.7 MW 9.3 GHz magnetron. To vary the beam energy we will change the current from the triode gun. We present an analysis of the structure, which includes varying the length from 60 cm to 80 cm, and the structure type, such as constant impedance versus constant gradient.

Romero, Agustin↗