A ferrite-loaded autoaccelerator

Abstract

An account is presented of the performance of an autoaccelerator in which energy is extracted from the front portion of a relativistic electron beam, via a ferrite-loaded cavity, and stored in an oil-filled transmission line. The extracted energy is returned to augment the energy of the electrons in the latter half of the beam. An increase of up to 33% in the electron beam energy is reported. The device was also used to investigate beam energy recovery. In this application the line was terminated in a matched load and up to 60% of the beam energy recovered. The autoaccelerator performance was limited by current pulse rise time degradation in the ferrite and by the formation of virtual cathodes during the deceleration phase. The latter process also limits the energy recovery.