RF deflectors
are very promising devices for longitudinal and transverse phase space
characterization or beam manipulation in advanced accelerators. In the
talk I will illustrate the main design criteria and the RF measurements
results of standing wave and traveling wave deflecting structures. In
particular I will discuss the main characteristics of existing or designed
devices as the deflectors of SPARC (LNF, Italy), Neptune (UCLA) or CTF3
(CERN). Measurement setups for longitudinal pulse shape as well as phase
space and transverse beam slice emittance characterizations will be
illustrated with applications to the existing projects. Measurements
results already obtained at SLAC or CTF3 and possible beam manipulation
with RF deflectors to obtain short bunches will be finally discussed.