Considerations regarding the efficiency of high power RF sources for particle accelerators

Recent advances in accelerator technology are now making possible the operation of high duty factor or CW facilities. Emphasis is therefore frequently put on accelerators designed not only on purely technical factors, but also on coqt criteria. From this point of view, the efficiency of high power RF sources feeding the electromagnetic power to the accelerating structures becomes an important issue in the design of a modern accelerator. It is thus important to consider the efficiency of high power RF sources in a very objective manner and to examine advantages and drawbacks for each possible RF generator. The objective of this paper is to give a broad survey of this issue and to clarify this performance and its consequences