Dielectric Loaded Wakefield Structures for RF Power Generation

Abstract

A 15 GHz dielectric loaded wakefield structure has been used to extract energy from a 13 MeV electron beam. Short electron bunches (13 ps FWHM) of up to 43 nC traversed the structure, generating an accelerating field of ∼23 MV/m. The structure consists of a cylindrical ceramic tube (cordierite) with a dielectric constant of 5, inner and outer radii of 5 mm and 7.49 mm, respectively. The 102 mm long dielectric cylinder is inserted into a cylindrical copper waveguide. Short metallic cylinders, with the same inner and outer radii as the ceramic, are inserted on both ends of the copper waveguide, making it a standing wave structure. A field probe present near the outer edge of the dielectric samples the RF field generated by the electron bunches. This signal is then sent to a mixer circuit, where the 15 GHz signal is down converted to 5 GHz and sent to an oscilloscope. We present measurements made with single electron bunches and also with two bunches separated by 1.5 ns. As a next step in these experiments, another structure, with an output coupler, has been designed and is presently being fabricated.