DOI: 10.33769/aupse.1785153 ISSN: 1303-6009

High Power Travelling Wave Ring for Testing Rf Components at TARLA

Özlem Karslı
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TARLA (Turkish Accelerator and Radiation Laboratory) is the first accelerator-based light source user facility in Türkiye. It is designed to produce free electron laser (FEL) radiation in the mid-infrared region, spanning wavelengths from 5 to 350 μm, as well as Bremsstrahlung radiation in the 10-30 MeV energy range, utilizing electron beams with energies between 10 and 40 MeV for fundamental and applied research. The facility will accommodate four experimental stations alongside an FEL diagnostics laboratory. Currently, two stations, dedicated to advanced material science and material characterization, are under preparation for user experiments. Additionally, TARLA incorporates a dedicated radiofrequency (RF) infrastructure designed to facilitate high-power RF research. As part of this infrastructure, a microwave pulse compressor system has been designed and implemented. To further enhance high-power RF testing capabilities, two resonant ring test bench configurations, employing closed-loop waveguide structures, were conceived and subjected to comprehensive electromagnetic simulations. Comparative evaluation of these designs indicated that one of the resonant rings, featuring a hybrid coupler integrated with a manual phase shifter, demonstrates superior resonance precision and power saturation characteristics. This configuration attains a power gain of approximately 11–12 dB, thereby enabling effective signal amplification and stable operation for device under test (DUT) assessments at elevated RF power levels. The selected resonant ring architecture offers a technically robust and cost-efficient solution for high-power RF component testing, addressing critical needs in accelerator technology and allied domains such as radar systems, vacuum electronics, and aerospace applications. This study details the design methodology, simulation procedures, and performance optimization of the chosen resonant ring test bench slated for deployment at TARLA.

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