Technical developments at the KIT gyrotron test facility

Parasitic beam tunnel oscillations have been discovered on some of the series production gyrotrons for W7-X and also on the coaxial pre-prototype gyrotron for ITER. Solutions to remedy these problems have resulted in a modified beam tunnel design, technologically close to the existing beam tunnel. The new design has successfully been tested on both the coaxial and also the f-step-tunable gyrotrons and has subsequently been implemented on one of the W7-X series-production-tubes presently undergoing factory acceptance tests in Karlsruhe. The ECRH test loads at KIT are operated under normal atmospheric conditions. Several loads have eventually failed in 1 MW long pulse experiments and KIT has therefore started to design its own loads. The first KIT-load is based on a fixed conical mirror and an aluminum cylinder coated with a lossy material for increased absorption. The new load has so far successfully been used during the acceptance tests of two 1-MW CW gyrotrons. Nevertheless a new load based on pure (uncoated) stainless steel absorbers is being developed as a backup solution for the ongoing high priority gyrotron testing. A superconducting magnet capable of rapid field changes between 4.15 and 5.67T for frequency step-tunable gyrotrons has been procured, has demonstrated a (static) field of 7.2 T and its capability of rapid field-changes. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V.