High MTBF RF Source Based upon the Injection Locked Magnetron

Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLAB) currently uses low efficiency klystrons, with a system of 340 klystrons approaching an MTBF of 170,000 hours. But over the lifetime of the project 60% of the tubes have been replaced, giving an MTBF for a single tube of about five to six years. 45% of the klystrons were replaced over the thirteen years of full operation (1995-2007) with an average filament on time of 80% and high voltage on time of 75%, thus a utilization rate of 61% per year or ~4300 high voltage operating hours per year with an overall system efficiency of 35%. This represents 1.6M$ per year of electricity costs and over 20% of the total electricity usage of the high energy mission specific facilities (HEMSF). We propose the development of a highly reliable high efficiency RF source for JLAB with a lower lifetime cost operating at 80% efficiency with system operating costs of about 0.7M$/year for the 6 GeV machine. The design of the RF source will be based upon two injection locked magnetrons in a novel combining architecture for amplitude modulation and a cross field amplifier (CFA) as an output tube for the 12 GeV upgrade. A cost analysis including efficiency and reliability will be performed to determine the optimum system architecture. Several different system architectures will be designed and evaluated for a dual injection locked magnetron source using novel combining techniques and possibly a CFA as the output tube. A paper design for the 1497 MHz magnetron system will be completed. The optimum system architecture with all relevant specifications will be completed so that a prototype can be built in Phase II. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: Injection locked magnetrons in novel combining networks can be used in phased array radar systems.