Experiments with Very High Power RF Pulses at SLAC

Experiments in which the powers of two SLAC klystrons were combined and fed into a resonant cavity pulse-compression system (SLED) are described. Pulse powers up to 65 MW into SLED were reached. The corresponding instantaneous peak power out of SLED was 390 MW. After normal initial aging, no persistent RF breakdown problems were encountered. X-radiation at the SLED cavities was generally less than 400 mR/hr after aging. The theoretical relationship between x-radiation intensity and RF electric field strength is discussed.