Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 46, No. 6, June 2005, pp.

14331438

Simulation of a 700-MHz, 1-MW CW Klystron for the KOMAC

by Using MAGIC2D
Lae Bong Jang, Hae Jin Kim and Jin Joo Choi
Department of Radio Science and Engineering, Kwangwoon University, Seoul 139-701

Kang Ok Lee
Korea Accelerator and Plasma Research Association, Gangwon-do 269-843
(Received 28 January 2005, in final form 31 March 2005)
We simulated a 700-MHz, 1-MW CW klystron for the KOrea Multipurpose Accelerator Complex
(KOMAC) by using a particle-in-cell code, MAGIC2D, in order to validate the design parameters.
The simulation predicts that a saturated output power of 980 kW is produced when an input power
of 61 W is injected at 700 MHz. Previous reports stated that the Field Charge Interaction (FCI)
code predicted a maximum output RF power of 1 MW at a 100-W input power. The simulated
RF performance is consistent with that predicted by the FCI code, except for the input power
for saturation and the axial B-field. We also design an output transition of a door-knob type to
encourage smooth conversions of the high electric and magnetic fields.
PACS numbers: 84
Keywords: KOMAC, MAGIC2D, Klystron

I. INTRODUCTION
The klystron is a high-power vacuum amplifier operating under the theory of electron beam velocity modulation [1]. Various cavities in proper positions and Q
values lead to an efficient energy interaction between the
beam and an RF signal. The high power klystron has
various applications in electronic systems, such as particle accelerators, industrial heating systems, and fusion
plasma heating, etc.
A 700-MHz, 1-MW CW klystron will be used as the
RF source of the Coupled Cavity Drift Tube Linac
(CCDTL) for the KOrea Multipurpose Accelerator Complex (KOMAC) [2,3]. The design study of the 700-MHz,
1-MW CW klystron amplifier was previously performed
by a Korea Accelerator and Plasma Research Association
(KAPRA) design team. An efficiency of 63 % and a gain
of 40 dB are expected, based on the Field Charge Interaction (FCI) code [2], in a six-cavity klystron including
a second-harmonic cavity (cavity 3).
Computer simulation and modeling have been used as
key tools to the design and understand the beam dynamics in vacuum devices. The development of the particlein-cell (PIC) code, in general, is well represented by the
application of these models to electron-circuit interactions. With the advent of modern computation, fully
three-dimensional simulations involving millions of par E-mail:

vision2004@kw.ac.kr

ticles and cells have become possible, and PIC code simulations are essential for high-power klystron because
they can provide a wide range of operating conditions
with high accuracy. Many attempts have been made at
two-and-a-half-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of
high-power klystron [49]. In spite of the high-speed
computation in modern computers, the PIC simulation
has a nontrivial run time.
In this paper, we describe the characteristics of a 700MHz, 1-MW klystron by using the 2-D particle-in-cell
code, MAGIC2D [10], in order to validate the design parameters. The simulation model of the 6-cavity klystron
is described Section II. In Section III, results from PIC
simulations are summarized and a coaxial-to-waveguide
transition capable of high output power is described. In
Section IV, we discuss the discrepancy between the input
powers in the MAGIC and the FCI simulations. Some
concluding remarks are also given there.

II. SIMULATION MODEL

MAGIC2D is an electromagnetic PIC, finite-difference,
and time-domain computer code. The PIC code analyzes the interaction between charged particles and electromagnetic fields by using Maxwells equations and the
Lorentz equation.
Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of a sixcavity klystron. The coordinate system used in the sim-

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Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 46, No. 6, June 2005

each cavity, as described in Figure 1(b). Each cavity is

pumped with an RF signal at a desired cavity resonant
frequency so that the desired resonance frequency (fr )
and Q are obtained for each cavity, which can be achieved
by regulating the loss and the radial distance in Figure
1(b). We slowly ramp up the drive term over a few RF
cycles, keep it at a constant amplitude for 10 20 RF
cycles, and then slowly ramp the driver signal to the off
state.
The quality factor (Q) of a cavity is, in general, written
as
1
1
1
=
+
,
QL
Qext
Q0

Fig. 1. Schematics of the MAGIC2D klystron cavity

model: (a) six-cavity and (b) input cavity
Table 1. Simulation parameters for the six-cavity klystron.
Beam voltage
Beam current
Beam radius
Operating frequency
Output RF power
Saturated efficiency
Saturated gain

95 kV
17 A
20 mm
700 MHz
980 kW
60.7 %
42 dB

Table 2. Circuit parameters for the six-cavity klystron.

Cavity no.
1
2
3
4
5
6

fr (MHz)
700.2
696.2
1399.7
704.2
711.2
699

Q
508.6
3963.2
3993.9
4990.3
5164.4
56.6

ulations is a cylindrically symmetric system (z, r, ).

The beam radius is 20 mm, and the drift tube radius
is 30 mm. The simulation parameters for the six-cavity
klystron are shown in Table 1. The circuit parameters
for the six-cavity klystron simulation are given in Table 2. As Table 2 shows, the klystron consists of six
cavities. The third cavity is a second-harmonic cavity
and is included to give some flexibility in controlling the
second-harmonic content at the output.
As Figure 1(a) shows, a load with a finite conductivity
volume in all cavities is created. Its conductivity in the
conductance region is tuned to achieve the proper Q. The
oblique line in Figure 1(a) denotes the loss of the cavities
to adjust the Q values of the cavities. A current density
source is applied to drive the electromagnetic field in

(1)

where QL is the loaded Q, Qext is the external Q, and

Q0 is the unloaded Q of a cavity [11]. The quality factor (Q) determines the growth rate at which a resonant
circuit fills. Low-Q circuits fill quickly, but saturate at
low values of the field power whereas high-Q circuits fill
slowly, but saturate at high values of the field power.
Thus, the filling time and the drift time of the cavities
must be considered. The filling time of a cavity is calculated using
=

2QL
2QL
,
=
0
2f

(2)

where is the filling time, QL is the quality factor,

and f is the resonance frequency of the cavity. The drift
time is given by
t=

L
L
=
,
0
(2||V0 )1/2

(3)

where t is the drift time, L is the length of the drift

tube, 0 is the beam velocity, is the charge-to-mass of
an electron, and V0 is the accelerating potential. Relatively long transient times were observed before reaching a steady-state during PIC simulations with high-Q

Fig. 2. Magnetic field profile as a function of axial distance

Simulation of a 700-MHz, 1-MW CW Klystron Lae Bong Jang et al.

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Table 3. Analysis of the input power in MAGIC2D.

Total drive power (W)
478.6
1077
1914
2991
4306
5054
5862

Ohmic power loss (W)

472.8
1064
1891
2955
4254
4993
5791

Power coupled into the beam (W)

5.8
13
23
36
52
61
71

Output power (kW)

308
574
787
921
978
980
977

cavities, leading to very long execution times. A hot-test

simulation was performed in a dual CPU computer (Pentium IV, 2.66- and 2.67-GHz processor). Monitoring 3.0
s of the beam dynamics took about 15 CPU hours.
Figure 2 depicts the magnetic field profile for the focusing electron beam in the klystron interaction circuit.
In the MAGIC2D simulation, the PRESET command
initializes the specific magneto-static field obtained from
POISSON code. In the region of the output cavity, the
magnetic flux density is raised to about 210 Gauss in order to counteract the increased space-charge forces in a
heavily bunched beam. Many MAGIC simulations were
performed to improve the output power for various values of the axial B-field.

III. SIMULATION RESULTS

In a previous MAGIC2D simulation, a saturated output power of 858 kW was predicted when an input power
of 71 W was injected at 700 MHz [12]. We modified
the axial B-field profile of the pre-designed klystron and
tuned the cold Q of the output cavity to reach a 1-MW
RF output power. Figure 3 shows axial electron beams
bunching, axial momentum, and space charge current as
functions of the axial position at the end of the simulation. In Figure 3(a), the electron beam is bunched when
a remarkable interaction between charged particles and
electromagnetic fields is used in the MAGIC2D simulation. In Figure 3(b) and Figure 3(c), a low-momentum
and high-space-charge electron beam near the output
cavity deposits its energy at the output cavity. Figure 4
shows a time history of amplifier power over the output
cavity. The klystrons output power saturates at 980 kW
when the power coupled into the beam is 61 W at 700
MHz. The maximum RF voltage at the output cavity is
120 kV, yielding a output power of 980 kW. Figure 5,
which depicts the frequency spectrum of the RF voltage
at the output cavity, shows an operating frequency of 700
MHz. An analysis of the input power in the simulation
is shown in Table 3. As Table 3 shows, we analyzed the
input power to obtain the saturated output power when
there was no matching circuit in the simulation. The
predicted output power and the gain of the klystron am-

Fig. 3. (a) Electron beam modulation, (b) axial momentum, and (c) space-charge current along the axial direction.

plifier are presented in Figure 6. The optimized output

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Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 46, No. 6, June 2005

Fig. 4. Output power over the output cavity as a function

of time.

Fig. 6. Output power and gain of a six-cavity klystron as

functions of the input power.

Fig. 5. Frequency spectrum of the RF voltage at the output cavity.

Fig. 7. Output power as a function of input drive frequency.

produces 980 kW of saturated power at 700 MHz with

an efficiency of 60.7 % and a gain of 42 dB when the input power coupled into the beam is 61 W and the beam
voltage and current are 95 kV and 17 A, respectively.
Figure 7 shows the output power as a function of the
input drive frequency for a saturated input power. The
performance of the klystron is quite sensitive to changes
in the drive frequency, so a sensitivity study was conducted by varying the cold Q of the output cavity and
the resonance frequency of the output cavity. The value
of Q indicates the limit on the amount of energy that
can be extracted from a resonant circuit, i.e., the power.
Figure 8 shows a comparison of the output powers from
output cavities with various Q values. The Q value of the
output cavity was varied from 98 to 39.5. Figure 9 shows
the output power as a function of the output resonant

frequency with an output-cavity Q of 56.6. Once again,

a maximum power of 980 kW was obtained when the
resonant frequency of the output cavity was 699 MHz.
Resonant frequency offsets in the range of 6 to + 2.5
MHz from the design value are shown in Figure 9.
In the coax-to-waveguide transition, RF field patterns
and breakdown become imperative design concerns [13].
An output transition in a door-knob-type transition is
selected to encourage smooth conversions of electric and
magnetic fields. The center conductor of the transition
guides the electric field from the TEM mode to the TE10
mode. The basic dimensions of the door-knob transition
is shown in Figure 10. The coaxial inner radius is 33 mm
with an outer radius of 79 mm. The center-conductor-towaveguide short-plane dimension is 12.96 mm, which is
g /4 to get maximum coupling using HFSS [14]. HFSS

Simulation of a 700-MHz, 1-MW CW Klystron Lae Bong Jang et al.

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Fig. 11. Return loss of the coaxial-to-waveguide (WR1500)

transition.
Fig. 8. Output power as a function of the input power for
various Qs of the output cavity (fr = 700 MHz).

coax-to-waveguide transition is 5.33 kV/cm in WR-1500

(190.5 mm), corresponding to a 1-MW input. The transmission characteristic of the transition is sensitive to the
shape of the center conductor. Figure 11 shows that the
return loss from the coax-to-waveguide transition is better than 20 dB at 700 MHz.

IV. CONCLUSION

Fig. 9. Sensitivity study for the variation in resonance

frequency of output cavity (Q = 56.6).

We simulated a 700-MHz, 1-MW CW klystron for the

KOMAC by using the particle-in-cell code, MAGIC2D.
The simulation predicts a saturated power of 980 kW,
corresponding to an electronic efficiency of 60.7 % and a
gain of 42 dB, when the power coupled into the beam is
61 W and the drive frequency is 700 MHz. These results
are similar with those of an FCI code simulation; a saturated output power of 1 MW was achieved for an input
power of 100 W. The discrepancy in the input power is
found to be caused by an assumption made in applying
the input power of the FCI code. The FCI code assumes
that all the input power is critically coupled into the input cavity; thus, all the input power is transferred to
the electron beam. In the MAGIC code, however, the
input cavity is modeled with a resistive loss. As a result,
the input power is coupled into two parts: one absorbed
through the cavity resistive loss and the other coupled
to the electron beam. The simulated RF performance
is consistent with that predicted by using the FCI code,
except for the input power for saturation and the axial
B-field.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Fig. 10. Coaxial-to-waveguide (WR1500) transition.

simulations predict that the electric-field stress at the

This work was supported by the Year 2003 KAPRA

(KOrea Accelerator and Plasma Research Association)
and in part by the Year 2005 Internal Research Fund

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Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 46, No. 6, June 2005

of Kwangwoon University. The authors would like to

acknowledge Dr. Larry Ludeking and Dr. David Smithe
at Mission Research Corporation for valuable discussions
on MAGIC2D simulations.

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