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January 22, 2026JACOW0 citationsOpen Access

Wide range low cost digital RF phase shifter

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KZKlaus ZenkerULUlf LehnertAOAlvaro Ernesto Rivera Osorio

Key Points

  • To develop a low-cost digital RF phase shifter that can operate across a wide frequency range and stabilize THz output power.
  • Designed a custom board with a quadrature modulator and a 16-bit digital-to-analogue converter.
  • Integrated commercial off-the-shelf products for software interface and compact housing.
  • Conducted amplitude and phase noise measurements along with amplitude stability assessments.
  • Achieved effective RF phase shifts in the range of 50 MHz to 6 GHz.
  • Demonstrated stability in THz output power through a feedback loop involving the RF gun laser.
  • Successfully monitored beam position to maintain desired operational parameters.

Abstract

Shifting RF phases is a common task in particular at particle accelerators. Which RF frequencies need to be shifted is highly facility dependent, which demands a wide range phase shifter. The phase shifter presented in this contribution consists of a custom board, that includes a high-performance quadrature modulator, voltage regulators and an 16-bit digital-to-analogue converter that offers an I2C interface. The quadrature modulator is specified to work in the frequency range between 50 MHz and a 6 GHz. The board is combined with commercial off-the-shelf products to provide a software interface and a RF tight compact housing. We present amplitude and phase noise measurements and amplitude stability measurements. At the ELBE Center for High-Power Radiation Sources we use the phase shifter to shift the phase of the superconducting RF gun laser with respect to the accelerator cavity RF field. This allows to implement a feedback loop that stabilizes the THz output power of the THz undulator source at ELBE. In order to achieve this, the beam position is monitored in an energy dispersive beam line section and the gun laser phase is used to keep it constant.

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Cite This Study

Zenker et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6971bea8642b1836717e34fbhttps://doi.org/10.18429/jacow-ibic2025-tupmo32
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