Research example: Particle accelerators

Beam synchronous timing
Ultralow phase noise microwave and radio frequency (RF) signal sources are vital for efficient and effective operation of any particle accelerator. Whether you are looking into low-loss acceleration, constant energy beam generation, efficient injection (linear to circular) or implementing a certain beam time structure (single, few, multibunch, etc.) or other applications, the R&S®FSWP phase noise analyzer provides extremely high sensitivity for phase noise measurements and monitoring.

Beam quality safety interlock system
With the constant need for even higher beam energy and more luminosity, safety requirements become increasingly important and challenging. Even a marginal loss of beam into any part of the accelerator will cause damage, such as rupturing the machine vacuum or destroying one or more dipole magnets, resulting in costly repairs and weeks of downtime. In addition, the continuous top-up operation of synchrotron light sources requires a fully automated injection process.

These requirements drive major changes in the control system and implicate the need for a highly reliable safety interlock system. The R&S®RTO is at the very heart of the system solution to address your safety requirements.

Central beam monitoring
Experiments in accelerator physics demand very accurate measurements of pulse parameters or of the jitter between two signals. For instance, the pulse shape of RF pulses is continuously monitored to prevent damage to any of the accelerator’s klystrons or dipole magnets. This requires that every single pulse be captured and that the data be continuously recorded – a challenging task considering that the latest generation of free electron lasers (FEL) increases the pulse rate to 100 Hz. The R&S®RTO allows waveforms to be acquired and downloaded to a PC at rates of up to 100 Hz, ensuring that you do not lose a single pulse.

Today's high-power RF sources with frequency ranges from 10 kHz to 50 GHz and power requirements in the 10 kW to 2 MW range are typically obtained by combining a series of vacuum tubes (tetrodes, klystrons, etc.) with high-power VHF/UHF transmitters and amplifiers. The Rohde&Schwarz families of highly efficient transmitters and broadband amplifiers meet these challenges and address the demand for highest amplitude and phase stability, lowest phase noise, top energy efficiency, small footprint and a modular design.