Power converters for particle accelerators

In 1905 Albert Einstein wrote his legendary articles which provided the basis for three fundamental fields in physics: the theory of special relativity, quantum theory and the theory of Brownian motion. Subsequently, particle physics made dramatic progress in the understanding of the fundamental forces and particles, and underlying symmetries of nature. These achievements were based on intensive interaction between the development of powerful theories, experimental discoveries and precision measurements with particle accelerators. Power converters play a crucial role in accelerators and the evolution of power electronics is one of the important ingredients that has allowed the attainable energy to be increased by a large factor every decade. This exponential growth has enabled physicists to resolve ever smaller objects and to produce ever heavier particles. For every new generation of accelerators, improvements in beam quality impose new and more severe requirements on power converter performance. In response, a more diverse set of converter ratings and topologies are necessary; from watts to megawatts and from pulsed to DC. This paper highlights specific power converter applications that illustrate the evolution of power electronics used in particle accelerators. It also presents the future challenges facing the power electronics community in response to the demands of the particle physicists