Upgrade and Operation Experience of Solid-State Switching Klystron Modulator in NSLS-II Linac

The NSLS-II synchrotron light-source at BNL uses three S-band, 45MW klystrons in its injector LINAC. At the core of the klystron station design is the novel solid-state switching modulators (or SSM). Compared to the conventional PFN klystron modulators, the main advantages of the SSM include the compact size requiring a smaller footprint in the LINAC, and a very flat top in the produced klystron HV pulses. The flatness of the HV pulses is very important for NSLS-II LINAC that runs multi-bunch beams to keep the beam energy dispersion within the tolerance. The principle of the SSM is fairly simple. It uses a large number of relatively low-voltage switched charging capacitor cells (or SU’s) in parallel. A specially designed, high step-up ratio, pulse transformer in the oil-tank with the same number of primary windings (as SU’s) combines the power from all the SU’s, and steps up to the required ~300kV klystron beam voltage. The operation experience at NSLS-II has proven the performance and reliability of the SSM’s. The BNL Model K2 SSM’s are currently being upgraded to Model K300 to run more powerful, and more cost-effective Canon’s E37302A klystrons.