Recherche

Light-sources are research facilities that produce exceptionally intense, highly focused beams of radiation, offering unparalleled investigative properties in physics, biology and other fields. A radio frequency system is used to produce and accelerate this beam, based on linear accelerator (Linac) using high-peak power klystrons and on RF amplifiers using superpower klystrons or inductive output tubes (IOT), both specialities at Thales.

With the development of the first synchrotron type particle accelerators towards 1947, researchers were initially bothered by stray radiation that sapped the power of their "atom smasher". But they gradually realized that this radiation could be used to study the structure of a wide variety of materials. By the late 1970s, governments and universities were building dedicated "synchrotrons radiation" machines for research. These "light sources" produce very intense, highly focused beams, generally in the x-ray, infrared or ultraviolet bands, that are far more effective than the light produced by conventional sources.

The energy used to accelerate the electrons in a circle within the synchrotron (with the light radiation being generated in tangential "beamlines") comes from powerful  radio frequency (RF) systems - which is where Thales| electron tubes enter the picture. The RF amplifier system is based on very high-power klystrons or inductive output tubes (IOT). Thales make both of these products and is in fact the world|s leading supplier to synchrotron radiation facilities, working with some 25 of these light sources around the world.

The Diamond Light Source (DLS), for instance, now under commissionning in Britain, uses Thales| TH 793 IOT for its storage ring and booster. In a world first, four IOTs will be coupled to provide 300 kW of power. The DLS will be the most powerful facility of its type when completed. Thales| TH 2161 klystron is used by other major facilities, including the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) in China, the Canadian Light Source (CLS) and the Swiss Light Source ( SLC). These are generally so-called third-generation facilities. Thales was also selected to provide for the Light Sources of ALBA in Spain, both the klystrons for the LINAC and the IOTs for its the storage ring.

Fouth-generation light sources are already on the drawing board. Based on free electron lasers (X-FEL) or energy linacs (ERL), they will increase brilliance by a factor of 1010 and cut pulse time 100-fold - the two key factors in research effectiveness. Thales worked closely with customers and future users to develop new tubes for these applications, namely the TH 713 IOT and the TH 1801 klystron operating at 1.3 GHz.

The in-depth study of materials and matter with powerful light sources is one of the most exciting areas of research today - and Thales is the power behing the beam.