Klystron Linearizer for Use with 1.2 mW 476 MHz Klystrons in PEP-II RF Systems

The direct and comb loop feedback around the RF cavities in PEP-II is critical in reducing longitudinal instabilities driven by the cavity impedance. The non-linear 1.2 MW klystron is in the signal path for these feedback loops. As a result, the effective small-signal gain of the klystron at 85% saturation reduces the impedance control by factors of 5 to 20 as compared to a linear power amplifier. A klystron linearizer circuit has been developed which operates in series with the power amplifier and acts to equalize the small and large signal gains through the combination. The technique must implement a 1 MHz linear control bandwidth over roughly 15 dB of RF signal level variation. The dynamics of this system is operating point dependent, and the channel must have dynamic gain compensation to keep the linearity compensation loop stable over changes in operating point. The design of this non-linear signal processing channel (incorporating RF and DSP techniques) and measured results from full-power klystron testing are presented.