Klystron system evaluation

Summary form only given as follows. The klystron RF amplifier is an electron beam device which is capable of producing a 25 megawatt, 2 usec pulse-width, 360 hertz burst of 2.856 GHz radio frequency (RF) energy. The present modulator configuration limits our repetition rate to 20 Hz. This device was required to support laboratory experiments. The system consist of a 50 kV high voltage power supply which resonantly charges a pulse forming network (PFN). The PFN charging system is designed to double the voltage of the charging power supply so that the PFN provides a 42 kV pulse to the primary of the step-up transformer. In turn, the transformer secondary supplies 250 kV to the electron gun of the klystron. This accelerates an electron beam. The beam is modulated by an array of cavities that have oscillating electric fields. The fields in the cavities are generated by a RF driver. Amplified RF energy is coupled from the bunched electron beam to produce 25 megawatt output pulses. The klystron amplifier has a gain of approximately 52 dB and requires a drive signal of approximately 160 watts for maximum output. The paper describes the set-up. It gives a detailed description of the various subcomponents. It also discusses the techniques used to set-up and evaluate those subcomponents.