Search Results (6 total)

We report the observation of two-dimensional plasma filamentary arrays with more than 100 elements generated during breakdown of air at atmospheric pressure by a focused Gaussian beam from a 1.5-MW, 110-GHz gyrotron operating in 3-μs pulses. Each element is a plasma filament elongated in the electric field direction and regularly spaced about one-quarter wavelength apart in the plane perpendicular to the electric field. The development of the array is explained as a result of diffraction of the beam around the filaments, leading to the sequential generation of high intensity spots, at which new filaments are created, about a quarter wavelength upstream from each existing filament. Electromagnetic wave simulations corroborate this explanation and show very good correlation to the observed pattern of filaments.

We present the detailed description of the successful design and cold test of photonic band gap (PBG) resonators and traveling-wave accelerator structures. Those tests provided the essential basis for later hot test demonstration of the first PBG accelerator structure at 17.140 GHz [E. I. Smirnova, A. S. Kesar, I. Mastovsky, M. A. Shapiro, and R. J. Temkin, Phys. Rev. Lett., 95, 074801 (2005).]. The advantage of PBG resonators is that they were built to support only the main, TM₀₁-like, accelerator mode while not confining the higher-order modes (HOM) or wakefields. The design of the PBG resonators was based on a triangular lattice of rods, with a missing rod at the center. Following theoretical analysis, the rod radius divided by the rod spacing was held to a value of about 0.15 to avoid supporting HOM. For a single-cell test the PBG structure was fabricated in X-band (11 GHz) and brazed. The mode spectrum and Q factor (Q=5 000) agreed well with theory. Excellent HOM suppression was evident from the cold test. A six-cell copper PBG accelerator traveling-wave structure with reduced long-range wakefields was designed and was built by electroforming at Ku-band (17.140 GHz). The structure was tuned by etching the rods. Cold test of the structure yielded excellent agreement with the theoretical design. Successful results of the hot test of the structure demonstrating the acceleration of the electron beam were published in E. I. Smirnova, A. S. Kesar, I. Mastovsky, M. A. Shapiro, and R. J. Temkin, Phys. Rev. Lett., 95, 074801 (2005).

We report the testing of a high gradient electron accelerator with a photonic-band-gap (PBG) structure. The photonic-band-gap structure confines a fundamental TM₀₁-like accelerating mode, but does not support higher-order modes (HOM). The absence of HOM is a major advantage of the PBG accelerator, since it suppresses dangerous beam instabilities caused by wakefields. The PBG structure was designed as a triangular lattice of metal rods with a missing central rod forming a defect confining the TM₀₁-like mode and allowing the electron beam to propagate along the axis. The design frequency of the six-cell structure was 17.14 GHz. The PBG structure was excited by 2 MW, 100 ns pulses. A 16.5 MeV electron beam was transmitted through the PBG accelerator. The observed electron beam energy gain of 1.4 MeV corresponds to an accelerating gradient of 35  MV/m, in excellent agreement with theory.

We report on electron beam quality measurement results from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 17 GHz RF gun experiment. The 1.5 cell RF gun uses a solenoid for emittance compensation. It has produced bunch charges up to 0.1 nC with beam energies up to 1 MeV. The normalized rms emittance of the beam after 35 cm of transport from the gun has been measured by a slit technique to be 3π mm mrad for a 50 pC bunch. This agrees well with PARMELA simulations at these beam energies. At the exit of the electron gun, we estimate the emittance to be about 1π mm mrad, which corresponds to a beam brightness of about 80 A/(π mm mrad)². Improved beam quality should be possible with a higher energy output electron beam from the gun.

We report the design and experimental demonstration of a gyrotron oscillator using a photonic-band-gap (PBG) structure to eliminate mode competition in a highly overmoded resonator. The PBG cavity supports a TE₀₄₁-like mode at 140 GHz and is designed to have no competing modes over a minimum frequency range δω/ω of 30% about the design mode. Experimental operation of a PBG gyrotron at 68 kV and 5 A produced 25 kW of peak power in the design mode. No other modes were observed over the full predicted operating range about the design mode. PBG cavities show great promise for applications in vacuum electron devices in the millimeter- and submillimeter-wave bands.

We present the theoretical design and cold test of a 17 GHz photonic band gap (PBG) cavity with improved coupling from an external rectangular waveguide. The PBG cavity is made of a triangular lattice of metal rods with a defect (missing rod) in the center. The TM₀₁₀-like defect mode was chosen as the operating mode. Experimental results are presented demonstrating that critical coupling into the cavity can be achieved by partial withdrawal or removal of some rods from the lattice, a result that agrees with simulations. A detailed design of the PBG accelerator structure is compared with a conventional (pillbox) cavity. One advantage of the PBG cavity is that its resonance frequency is much less perturbed by the input/output coupling structure than in a comparable pillbox cavity. The PBG structure is attractive for future accelerator applications.