Engineering topics
Sah, R.
Publications and source records attributed to Sah, R..
Kinetic Modeling of RF Breakdown in High-Pressure Gas-filled Cavities
Recent studies have shown that high gradients can be achieved quickly in high-pressure gas-filled cavities without the need for long conditioning times, because the dense gas can dramatically reduce dark currents and multipacting. In this proj ect we use this high pressure technique to suppress effects of residual vacuum and geometry found in evacuated cavities to isolate and study the role of the metallic surfaces in RF cavity breakdown as a function of radiofrequency and surface preparation. A series of experiments at 805 MHz using hydrogen fill pressures up to 0.01 g/cm3 of H2 have demonstrated high electric field gradients and scaling with the DC Paschen law limit, up to ~30 MV/m, depending on the choice of electrode material. For higher fi eld stresses, the breakdown characteristics deviate from the Paschen law scaling. Fully-kinetic 0D collisional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations give breakdown characteristics in H2 and H2/SF6 mixtures in good agreement with the 805 MHz experimental resu lts below this field stress threshold. The impact of these results on gas-filled RF accelerating cavity design will be discussed.
Phase and Frequency Locked Magnetron
Phase and Frequency locked magnetrons have many important uses from phased array ground penetrating radars to SRF sources. We report on the recent progress in making such a magnetron. The ferrite/garnet material has passed bakeout and outgassi ng tests with outgassing rates well below the requirements. The magnetic field requirements for adjusting the frequency by changing the microwave properties of the ferrite/garnet have been determined. The design of the anode structure with ferrites, magne tic shielding, and magnetic bias has been completed for a low power test. We report on the design status. Muons, Inc. has negotiated an contract with a manufacturing firm, L-3 Electron Devices California Tube Laboratory, Inc., to be the Manufacturing Part ner for the commercialization of this technology and support these Phase II efforts.
Novel Crab Cavity RF Design
A 20-50 MV integrated transverse voltage is required for the Electron-Ion Collider. The most promising of the crab cavity designs that have been proposed in the last five years are the TEM type crab cavities because of the higher transverse impedance. The TEM design approach is extended here to a hybrid crab cavity that includes the input power coupler as an integral part of the design. A prototype was built with Phase I monies and tested at JLAB. The results reported on, and a system for achieving 20-50 MV is proposed.
High Power Coax Window
A superconducting RF (SRF) power coupler capable of handling 500 kW CW RF power is required for present and future storage rings and linacs. There are over 35 coupler designs for SRF cavities ranging in frequency from 325 to 1500 MHz. Coupler windows vary from cylinders to cones to disks, and RF power couplers are limited by the ability of ceramic windows to withstand the stresses due to heating and mechanical flexure. We propose a novel robust co-axial SRF coupler design which uses compressed window technology. This technology will allow the use of highly thermally conductive materials for cryogenic windows. Using compressed window techniques on disk co-axial windows will make significant improvements in the power handling of SRF couplers. We present the bench test results of two window assemblies back to back, as well as individual window VSWR in EIA3.125 coax. A vacuum test assembly was made and the windows baked out at 155C. The processes used to build windows is scalable to larger diameter coax and to higher power levels.
Improved DC Gun Insulator Assembly
Many user facilities such as synchrotron radiation light sources and free electron lasers require accelerating structures that support electric fields of 10-100 MV/m, especially at the start of the accelerator chain where ceramic insulators are used for very high gradient DC guns. These insulators are difficult to manufacture, require long commissioning times, and often exhibit poor reliability. Two technical approaches to solving this problem will be investigated. Firstly, inverted ceramics offer solutions for reduced gradients between the electrodes and ground. An inverted design will be presented for 350 kV, with maximum gradients in the range of 5-10 MV/m. Secondly, novel ceramic manufacturing processes will be studied, in order to protect triple junction locations from emission, by applying a coating with a bulk resistivity. The processes for creating this coating will be optimized to provide protection as well as be used to coat a ceramic with an appropriate gradient in bulk resistivity from the vacuum side to the air side of an HV standoff ceramic cylinder. Example insulator designs are being computer modelled, and insulator samples are being manufactured and tested