Mechanical Design and Analysis of the Proposed APEX2 VHF CW Electron Gun

Abstract

Normal conducting radio-frequency (RF) guns resonating in the very high frequency (VHF) range (30-300 MHz) and operating in continuous wave (CW) mode have successfully achieved the targeted brightness and reliability necessary for upgrading the performance of current lower repetition rate accelerator-based instruments such as X-ray free electron lasers (FELs), and ultra-fast electron diffraction (UED) and microscopy (UEM). The APEX2 (Advanced Photo-injector Experiment 2) electron gun is a proposed upgrade for the current LCLS-II injector, which was based on the original APEX design. In contrast, APEX2 is designed as a two-cell cavity operating at 162.5 MHz with a launching field at the cathode equal to 34 MV/m, producing a beam energy of 1.5 to 2 MeV, more than double APEX. Operation of the gun in this condition will require upwards of 200 kW of RF power, thus proper thermal management is crucial to achieve target performance. This paper describes the current design, thermal performance and tuning methods.