Relativistic klystrons

Experimental work is underway to investigate the feasibility of using relativistic klystrons as a power source for future high-gradient accelerators. The aim is to develop a high-power (500-MW) short-wavelength (2.6-cm) relativistic klystron with beam kinetic energy greater than 1 MeV. Two different relativistic klystron configurations have been built and tested: a high-gain multicavity klystron at 11.4 GHz and a low-gain two-cavity subharmonic buncher driven at 5.7 GHz. In both configurations power is extracted at 11.4 GHz. In order to understand the basic physics issues involved in extracting RF from a high power beam, both a single resonant cavity and a multicell traveling-wave structure were used for energy extraction. A previously reported problem of high-power RF pulse shortening was overcome, and peak RF power levels of 170 MW have been achieved with the RF pulse of the same duration as the beam current pulse.<>