Patent ID: 8232748

Claim:
A method of operating a traveling wave linear accelerator, comprising: coupling an electromagnetic wave having a first frequency and a first amplitude from an electromagnetic wave source to an input of an accelerator structure of the traveling wave linear accelerator; accelerating a first electron beam injected by an electron gun into the accelerator structure to a first energy using the electromagnetic wave; and monitoring a first phase shift of the electromagnetic wave using a frequency controller interfaced with the input and an output of the accelerator structure, wherein the frequency controller compares a phase of the electromagnetic wave at the input of the accelerator structure to a phase of the electromagnetic wave at the output of the accelerator structure to monitor the first phase shift, wherein the frequency controller transmits a first signal to a first oscillator based on the first phase shift, and wherein the first oscillator causes the electromagnetic wave source to generate a subsequent electromagnetic wave at a corrected frequency based on the magnitude of the first phase shift of the electromagnetic wave.