Kilpatrick limit

In particle accelerators, a common mechanism for accelerating a charged particle beam is via copper resonant cavities in which electric and magnetic fields form a standing wave, the mode of which is designed so that the E field points along the axis of the accelerator, producing forward acceleration of the particles when in the correct phase.

The maximum electric field E achievable is limited by a process known as RF breakdown. The reliable limits for various RF frequencies f were tested experimentally in the 1950s by W. D. Kilpatrick.[1]

An approximate relation by least-square optimization of the data yields[2]

f = 1.64\,\mathrm{MHz} \cdot \left(\frac{E}{E_0}\right)^2 \cdot \exp\left( -8.5 \frac{E_0}{E} \right), \quad with E_0 = 1 \mathrm{\frac{MV}{m}} (megavolts per metre).

This relation is known as the Kilpatrick Limit.

References

  1. ^ W. D. Kilpatrick, Criterion for Vacuum Sparking Designed to Include Both rf and dc, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 28, p.824 (1957);
    DOI:10.1063/1.1715731 (AIP, may require subscription).
  2. ^ Thomas Wangler, RF Linear Accelerators (1998), p.160. This form apparently comes from a Los Alamos note:
    T. J. Boyd, Jr., Kilpatrick's criterion, Los Alamos Group AT-1 report AT-1:82-28, February 12, 1982.