Speaker
Description
For large particle accelerators, the radio-frequency (RF) power source system accounts for a significant portion of total energy consumption. A considerable fraction of the RF power that is not used for particle acceleration is delivered to an absorbing load located at the output of the accelerating structure, where it is converted into heat and dissipated. Recovering this otherwise wasted energy is therefore of great interest for improving the overall energy efficiency of accelerator facilities.
RF-DC rectification technology offers a potential approach to convert the RF power into usable DC electricity. However, the practical implementation of this concept has long been limited by insufficient high-frequency and high-power handling capabilities of conventional semiconductor devices. As a result, although the concept is attractive, it has rarely been demonstrated in experimental or engineering applications at the GHz frequencies.
With the recent development of fourth-generation Gallium Nitride (GaN) transistors, significant improvements in high-frequency and high-power performance have been achieved, making RF energy recovery at microwave frequencies more feasible.. This work investigates the feasibility of a GaN-based RF rectification scheme for high-power energy-recovery absorbing loads in large-scale accelerators.
