Fast Beam Switching Kicker for Electron Beam Cooling

DOE scientists are designing a future electron-ion collider particle accelerator to study details of the nucleus and the strong nuclear force. This field of investigation has renewed importance as worldwide interest in safe nuclear power revives. This accelerator complex will be relatively compact and should deliver substantial scientific progress at affordable cost. The fast beam switching kicker is a critical and enabling technology for the accelerator. High peak power microwave compression has defense and industrial applications as well. DTI will investigate the chirp pulse compression technique for creating short electrical pulses at very high repetition rates. A prototype kicker deflector system will be constructed and tested based on this technology. Commercial Applications & Other Benefits: The short pulse kicker should have application to high pulse rate accelerators used for scientific and commercial research. The high peak power RF pulses made available by the pulse compressor approach should have industrial applications where high peak power and high average power are both needed, such as plasma chemistry. Pulse compression should be a lower cost means of delivering short high power microwave pulses for defense applications