High Power Photonic Band Gap Engineering: Accelerators and RF Sources

从物理学到生物学，粒子加速器为科学家提供了一种独特的工具来探测超小尺度结构。在英国的8个RC-UK加速器设施中，有6个是由EPSRC的科学和工程驱动的。这些工具使科学家能够检查人类基因组的结构，探测外来物质的结构，探测和识别物质的最终成分，并了解宇宙的起源以及宇宙为什么是这个样子的原因。它们的用途不仅限于研究科学家的领域：粒子加速器被用于许多应用领域，从诊断和治疗医学，到生产具有记忆的塑料，再到我们所吃的食物的消毒。这些设施的可用性和使用通常受到其纯粹的规模和成本以及限制其性能的更深层次的潜在问题的限制。利用光子带隙（PBG）结构和外来材料可以很好地解决所有这些问题，这对真空电子工业，特别是粒子加速具有重大意义。这里讨论的PBG结构不是光学物理学中通常讨论的杂化纳米结构，而是排列在周期性晶格中的宏观金属/介电棒的集合。棒的相对排列会产生周期性变化，阻止电磁场通过晶格传播。移除这些棒中的一个会在周期性晶格中产生缺陷，从而允许特定频率的电磁场进入晶格并通过。这种间隙可以设计成只允许非常窄的波长带通过几何形状，并且这些PBG结构的超大性质意味着可以轻松制造高频RF结构。对文献的调查显示，关于PBG结构在高功率微波应用中的应用的论文少之又少，目前只有一组成功地使用共振PBG来加速粒子。目前只有少数小组正在研究PBG在射频产生中的应用。该提案旨在建立一个跨学科的团队，在兰开斯特大学PBG结构用于粒子加速和射频产生领域具有临界质量。我们将研究使用前沿物理和材料科学开发的新颖和奇异材料的应用，以创建用于RF生产和粒子加速的新PBG结构。本项目从理论上、数值上和实验上研究PBG结构，利用PBG产生RF和加速粒子。目的是开发材料科学和物理学的新领域，以展示一种全新技术的可能性，这可能最终导致PBG台式粒子加速器和高功率射频源。在整个研究项目中，将着重强调工业界和学术界之间的知识转移。

Ranging from physics to biology, particle accelerators give scientists a unique tool for probing ultra small scale structure. Of the eight RC-UK accelerator based facilities in the UK six are driven by EPSRC science and engineering. These tools have enabled scientists to examine the structure of the human genome, to probe the structure of exotic materials, to probe and identify the ultimate constituents of matter, and to understand the very origins of the universe and the reasons why the universe is the way it is. Their use is not just limited to the realm of the research scientist: particle accelerators are used in a number of applications from diagnostic and therapeutic medicine, to the production of plastics with memory, and the sterilisation of the food we eat. The availability and usage of these facilities is generally limited by their sheer size and cost, and by deeper underling issues that limit their performance. A possible solution to all these problems could very well found in the use of Photonic Band Gap (PBG) structures and exotic materials, which has major implications for the vacuum electronics industry, in particular for particle acceleration.The PBG structures discussed here are not the hybrid nanostructures usually discussed in optical physics, but a collection of macroscopic metallic/dielectric rods arranged in a periodic lattice. The alignment of the of the rods relative to each other creates periodic variation that prevents Electro-Magnetic (EM) fields from propagating though the lattice.Removing one of these rods creates a defect in the periodic lattice which allows EM fields of a specific frequency to enter into the lattice and propagate through the. This gap can be engineered in such a way as to allow only a very narrow band of wavelengths to pass through the geometry, and the oversized nature of these PBG structures means that high frequency RF structures can be manufactured with ease.A survey of the literature reveals surprisingly few papers on the application of PBG structures for high power microwave applications, currently only one group have successfully used resonant PBG's to accelerate particles, and only a small number of groups are currently investigating the use of PBG's for RF generationThis proposal sets out to establish an interdisciplinary team with a critical-mass in the area of PBG structures for particle acceleration and RF generation at Lancaster University. We will examine the application of novel and exotic materials, developed using cutting edge physics and materials science, to create new PBG structures for the production of RF and the acceleration of particles. This project sets out to study PBG structures theoretically, numerically, and experimental, using PBG to both generate RF and accelerate particles. With the aim of exploiting new areas in materials science and physics to demonstrate the possibilities of an entirely new technology, which could ultimately lead to PBG tabletop particle accelerators and high power RF sources. Throughout the research project there will be a strong emphasis on Knowledge Transfer both between industry and academia.