Upton, USA, 3. January 2019. Ampegon received an order for a 320kW solid-state RF amplifier from the US Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, to provide energy into the NSLS-II synchrotron ring. This system will be the highest power solid-state RF amplifier Ampegon has ever produced, being made from 4x combined 80kW units of the type previously contracted to Diamond Light Source in the UK. This project marks the first standardized production of this highly efficient 500MHz solid-state RF amplifier.
Many synchrotrons around the world currently use 500MHz RF, provided by amplifiers using expensive and consumable klystron or IOT tubes. BNL has ordered Ampegon’s solid-state RF amplifier in order to move away from tube technology, looking to more modern technology offering similar efficiency along with a level of redundancy which is not possible with tube amplifiers. With this system Ampegon can offer unrivalled performance which allows the synchrotron to continue operating in the event of an RF fault which would previously have caused the ring to shut-down. Additionally, due to cheaper spare parts, lifetime costs are expected to be significantly reduced compared to tube amplifiers.
Our 500MHz solid-state RF amplifier is believed to be the only production solid-state amplifier operating at this frequency capable of achieving power efficiency comparable to tube amplifiers. This is achieved thanks to the unique design of the RF amplifier modules and the high-efficiency single-step 80kW RF combiner, incorporating up to 54x RF amplifier modules with almost 100% efficiency. Thanks to this high quality product, Ampegon can deliver a critical piece of infrastructure to BNL to provide sustainable 500MHz RF to their storage ring and allowing production of high energy X-rays with improved reliability.