Kicker magnet modulator in the 2-GeV Pohang light source

The 2.0-GeV Pohang light source (PLS) is a third-generation synchrotron light source that is the first such facility in Korea and the fifth in the world. The PLS mainly consisted of a full-energy injection linac and a storage ring. Four kicker magnets are installed in the storage ring tunnel to move the stored beam orbit in the storage ring closer to the injected beam from the beam transfer line. The injected beam then falls into the storage ring beam dynamic aperture. A kicker magnet modulator drives all four kicker magnets to maintain field balance and synchronized kick of the beam. Specification of the kicker magnet modulator is ~6.0-μs-full width, 200-ns flattop width with ±0.2% regulation, ~24-kA peak current, and 10-Hz repetition rate. Two thyratron switches (EEV CX-1536AX) are used in the system. As the inverse voltage is dangerous to thyratron operation, a new surge suppression circuit was developed. The kicker modulator has been operated very reliably since its installation in August 1995. In this article, design, simulation, and experimental results of the kicker magnet modulator are discussed. In addition, measurement result of spatial B-field distribution in the kicker magnet and maximum operating range of kicker magnet are discussed