Undergraduate Research at Jefferson Lab

Using Trim Coils to Modify Magnetron's Magnetic Field

Student: Jai Peris

School: University of Texas at Dallas

Mentored By: Haipeng Wang

Modern superconducting particle accelerators require a radio frequency (RF) source to drive charged particles through superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities at close to the speed of light. Magnetrons function as one of the most efficient RF sources. Although, various phenomena result in an unstable signal, such as frequency pushing, in which the magnetron's resonant frequency increases as the gain is increased. One solution to this phenomenon is the modulation of the magnetron's magnet field with trim coils installed on its permanent magnets. To efficiently tune the magnetic field of a magnetron, specific pushing characteristics must be analyzed to produce the ideal trimming effect in proportion to the magnetron's gain. If this stable signal can be produced, magnetrons will significantly lower the operational cost of particle accelerators, expanding access to essential physics technology.