RF pulse compression experiment at SLAC

Using RF pulse compression it is possible to boost a 50-100 MW output, expected from high-power microwave tubes operating in the 10-20 GHz frequency range, to the 300-600 MW level required by the next generation of high gradient linear colliders. Experiments have been performed at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center to test, at low power, a two-stage binary energy compressor (BEC) operating at 11.424 GHz. Using over-moded delay lines and 3 dB hybrid couplers, a 312-ns pulse was compressed to 78 ns, giving a power multiplication ratio of approximately 3.2 and a power efficiency of 81%. Individual component insertion losses were measured to be in the range of 0.6% to 8.5%. Overall efficiency calculated using these values agreed with measured values to approximately 1.4%.<>