Patent ID: 8203289

Claim:
A method of reducing heating during a fast-switching operation of a standing wave linear accelerator, the accelerator comprising a longitudinal passageway, a plurality of main cavities disposed along the longitudinal passageway, and a plurality of side cavities each coupled to two neighboring main cavities and having a resonance frequency, said method comprising: respectively providing first and second side cavities of the plurality with first and second electronic switches each configured to detune the resonance frequency of its respective cavity; generating a standing electromagnetic wave in the accelerator; injecting a first set of electrons into the longitudinal passageway; accelerating the first set of electrons with the standing electromagnetic wave to a first energy while the first and second switches are in a first state in which the first side cavity and the first electronic switch together have substantially the same reactance as do the second side cavity and the second electronic switch together; activating the first and second switches at substantially the same time as one another to a second state in which the first side cavity and the first electronic switch together have substantially the same reactance as do the second side cavity and the second electronic switch together, the reactance in the second state being different from the reactance in the first state, the second state modifying the standing electromagnetic wave; injecting a second set of electrons into the longitudinal passageway; and accelerating the second set of electrons with the modified electromagnetic wave to a second energy which is different from the first energy.