Design and construction of a 500 kW CW, 400 MHz klystron to be used as RF power source for LHC/RF component tests

A 500 kW cw klystron operating at 400 MHz was developed and constructed jointly by CERN and SLAC for use as a high-power source at CERN for testing LHC/RF components such as circulators, RF absorbers and superconducting cavities with their input couplers. The design is a modification of the 353 MHz SLAC PEP-I klystron. More than 80% of the original PEP-I tube parts could thus be incorporated in the LHC test klystron which resulted in lower engineering costs as well as reduced development and construction time. The physical length between cathode plane and upper pole plate was kept unchanged so that a PEP-I tube focusing solenoid, available at CERN, could be re-used. With the aid of the klystron simulation codes JPNDISK and CONDOR, the design of the LHC tube was accomplished, which resulted in a tube with noticeably higher efficiency than its predecessor, the PEP-I klystron. The integrated cavities were redesigned using SUPERFISH and the output coupling circuit, which also required redesigning, was done with the aid of MAFIA. Details of the tube development and test results are presented.