Ultra-Low-Cost Driver TWT for SLAC NLC Klystron

162 Ultra-Low-Cost Driver TWT for SLAC NLC Klystron--Macro Metalics Division of Elcon, 1009 Timothy Drive, , San Jose, CA 95133-1043; (408) 283-1213 Mr. Robert W. Le Clair, Principal Investigator Mr. Anthony J. Barraco, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-97ER82422 Amount: $75,000 The Next Linear Collider (NLC) will require up to 10,000 Traveling Wave Tubes (TWT¿s) to drive the klystrons which power the accelerator. The commercially available TWT¿s are military tubes for radar and electronic countermeasures (ECM) that are grossly overdesigned and unnecessarily expensive for low-average power accelerator applications. The purpose of this project is to build and demonstrate an ultra-low-cost TWT that is designed specifically to meet the unique low-average power DOE accelerator requirements. A total cost savings of more than $ 35M for a 10,000 tube procurement is anticipated. The Phase I project will fabricate and test a prototype of the new TWT. Phase II shall be devoted to design refinements, further cost reduction (electronic gun and rf circuit fabrication) and demonstration of a pilot line to produce 20 TWT¿s. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The very low cost of this unique TWT design makes maximum use of the benign environment and low-average power of the DOE accelerator requirement. Although the production TWT will be largely limited to accelerator applications, a number of the design innovations are applicable to both radar and ECM communities.