Performance and test results of a regulated magnetron pulser

This paper describes the test results and performance of a 5.0 kV, 500 mA, regulated current pulser used to drive an Hitachi model 2M130 2425 MHz magnetron. The magnetron is used to modulate the plasma in a particle accelerator injector. In this application, precise and stable RF power is crucial to extract a stable and accurate particle beam. A 10 kV high-voltage triode vacuum tube with active feedback is used to control the magnetron current and output RF power. The pulse width may be varied from as little as ten microseconds to continuous duty by varying the width of a supplied gate pulse. The output current level can be programmed between 10 and 500 mA. Current regulation and accuracy are better than 1%. The paper discusses the overall performance of the pulser and magnetron including anode current and RF power waveforms, linearity compliance, and vacuum tube performance