High power testing of 30 GHz accelerating structures at the Clic Test Facility (CTF II)

During the year 2000, experiments using the CLIC Test Facility [1] (CTF II) focused on high-power testing of 30 GHz CLIC prototype accelerating structures [2] (CAS) and on investigating the processes involved in RF breakdown. For this purpose, a 30 GHz high-power test stand equipped with diagnostics for breakdown studies has been developed. The experimental set-up, diagnostics and performance of the one meter long power extraction structure used to feed the accelerating structures with 30 GHz power will be described. A single-feed coupler CAS assembled by AEG, a planar structure produced by the University of Berlin, and a double-feed coupler CAS made at CERN, were tested in CTF. The accelerating and surface gradient limits found for these structures at different RF pulse lengths, and ideas about the processes involved in electrical breakdown, are summarised and discussed.