Industrial Response to RF Power Requirements

High-energy physics machine design has divided into two broadly separate directions. Today, some machines are dedicated to providing a service (light sources, neutron spallation sources, cancer therapy equipment etc.) using particle acceleration as an intermediate step. Less frequently, particle colliders are built that use the particles directly to probe the nature and origin of matter and these have developed to a point where the technology required is often at the extreme edge of what is understood let alone of what is currently achievable. In addition the scope of what industry has to supply is increasing as RF skills become scarcer. More equipment integration has to be done by suppliers than hitherto so reducing the supplier base and placing yet greater demands on those remaining. Figure 1: RF System Schematic. Items i) to v) are increasingly being regarded as a single deliverable item. Item vi) is still highly specialised with the necessary technology residing in a few accelerator laboratories and commercial companies. This paper presents an industry view of some issues that arise. If industry can be brought ‘inside’ the project team when preparing the machine design, account can be taken of any limitations, preferences and obligations industries may have. By adopting this approach from the outset, it is more likely that projects can be completed at a lower cost, in a shorter time and with a more certain outcome. OVERVIEW This paper deals mainly with issues raised by the accelerator community’s continuing expectation that industry will be able and willing to take on the task of manufacturing unique and technically demanding RF equipment. It is not a foregone conclusion that industry will be prepared to take on the major challenges and risks that a major machine will pose. This doubt will remain until industry has acquired the necessary extra skills, processes and manufacturing capacity to be confident of success. It will also need to be confident that its investment in long-term preparations will not be rendered pointless by changes in machine technology, rival projects and political decisions. WHAT CONSTITUTES AN RF SYSTEM? For the purposes of this paper, the schematic diagram shown in Fig. 1 defines the scope of what is meant by an ‘RF system’. The definition also includes hardware providing the DC power to drive the RF amplifier and the local control interface between the hardware and ‘central control’. Designs for these elements are usually closely dependant upon the type of RF device being powered and the operating regime for the RF amplifier, e.g. pulsed or