Multimoded reflective delay lines and their application to resonant delay line rf pulse compression systems

Pulse compression systems for future linear colliders, such as NLC and JLC, involve hundreds of kilometers of waveguide runs. These waveguides are highly overmoded to reduce the rf losses. In this paper we present a novel idea for utilizing these waveguides several times by using different modes. This idea is suitable for reflective delay lines. All the modes being used have low-loss characteristics. We describe mechanically simple mode transducers that switch the propagation mode from one configuration to another with no observable dispersion. We apply this technique to a resonant delay line pulse compression system. We also present experimental results that verify these theoretical developments.