Operation of a large-orbit high-harmonic gyro-traveling-wave tube amplifier
Abstract
The high-harmonic gyro-traveling-wave tube (gyro-TWT) is a high-power (1-kW or more) millimeter wave amplifier based on the synchronous interaction of a beam of large-orbit axis-encircling electrons with a high-order cylindrical waveguide mode. Since the interaction occurs at a high harmonic of the cyclotron frequency, the intense magnetic fields required for the conventional fundamental-mode gyro-TWT are not required. A proof-of-principle experiment designed to demonstrate the interaction of a 150-mA, 350-keV electron beam with the TE81 mode of a cylindrical waveguide is described. Principal results include a small signal gain of 10 dB, an interaction bandwidth of 4.3 percent, and a saturated power transfer from electron beam to wave of 0.5 kW. Additional measurements include the dependence of gain on electron beam current and the measurement of the beam's gamma, beta(perpendicular), beta(parallel), and Delta beta(parallel). Sufficient agreement between the experimental results, the simulation codes, and an analytic description of the interaction is demonstrated to permit the design of high-performance millimeter wave amplifiers.
- Publication:
-
IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
- Pub Date:
- June 1990
- DOI:
- 10.1109/27.55900
- Bibcode:
- 1990ITPS...18..313F
- Keywords:
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- Cyclotron Resonance Devices;
- Harmonic Generations;
- Millimeter Waves;
- Traveling Wave Amplifiers;
- Traveling Wave Tubes;
- Beam Currents;
- Electron Beams;
- Lorentz Transformations;
- Standing Wave Ratios;
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering