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Proceedings ArticleDOI

A Ku-band high power backward wave oscillator

TL;DR: In this paper, the design and performance of a high power backward wave oscillator working at Ku-band frequencies is described. But the performance of the beamforming scheme is not discussed.
Abstract: The paper reports on the design and performance of a high power backward wave oscillator (BWO), working at Ku-band frequencies. The rectangular waveguide grating structure is used as its slow wave structure. The backward wave oscillator is driven by a sheet beam with cross sectional area of 30mm×1mm which is generated by a thin cathode. For a beam voltage 185kV, and beam current 3.2kA, the output power is 2.5MW at 14.3GHz.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the capabilities for vacuum electronic device (VED) sources of powerful terahertz (THz) and near-THz coherent radiation, both CW or average and pulsed, were evaluated.
Abstract: Recent research and development has been incredibly successful at advancing the capabilities for vacuum electronic device (VED) sources of powerful terahertz (THz) and near-THz coherent radiation, both CW or average and pulsed. Currently, the VED source portfolio covers over 12 orders of magnitude in power (mW-to-GW) and two orders of magnitude in frequency (from ; 10 THz). Further advances are still possible and anticipated. They will be enabled by improved understanding of fundamental beam-wave interactions, electromagnetic mode competition and mode control, along with research and development of new materials, fabrication methods, cathodes, electron beam alignment and focusing, magnet technologies, THz metrology and advanced, broadband output radiation coupling techniques.

860 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
14 Nov 2002-Nature
TL;DR: Calculations and measurements are reported that confirm the production of high-power broadband THz radiation from subpicosecond electron bunches in an accelerator, several orders of magnitude higher than any existing source, which could enable various new applications.
Abstract: Terahertz (THz) radiation, which lies in the far-infrared region, is at the interface of electronics and photonics. Narrow-band THz radiation can be produced by free-electron lasers and fast diodes. Broadband THz radiation can be produced by thermal sources and, more recently, by table-top laser-driven sources and by short electron bunches in accelerators, but so far only with low power. Here we report calculations and measurements that confirm the production of high-power broadband THz radiation from subpicosecond electron bunches in an accelerator. The average power is nearly 20 watts, several orders of magnitude higher than any existing source, which could enable various new applications. In particular, many materials have distinct absorptive and dispersive properties in this spectral range, so that THz imaging could reveal interesting features. For example, it would be possible to image the distribution of specific proteins or water in tissue, or buried metal layers in semiconductors; the present source would allow full-field, real-time capture of such images. High peak and average power THz sources are also critical in driving new nonlinear phenomena and for pump-probe studies of dynamical properties of materials.

673 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, an asymmetric solenoid lens concept for transforming the circular beam from a high-perveance electron gun to a planar configuration was described, and the first experimental demonstration of this lens was performed at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Abstract: Currently ongoing at Los Alamos National Laboratory is a program to develop high-power, planar 100--300 GHz traveling-wave tubes. A necessary part of this effort is a sheet electron beam source. Previously, we have described a novel asymmetric solenoid lens concept for transforming the circular beam from a high-perveance electron gun to a planar configuration. The lens is a standard electromagnetic solenoid with elliptical, instead of circular, pole apertures. The elliptical pole openings result in asymmetric focusing, which in turn forms an elliptical sheet beam suitable for our planar structures. Here we report the first experimental demonstration of this lens.

48 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a millimeter-wave sheet beam backward wave oscillator is presented for high-power high-frequency microwave radiation, where the rectangular waveguide grating structure is used as its slow wave structure.
Abstract: The sheet beam vacuum electron device is an attractive choice for generating high-power high-frequency microwave radiation. A millimeter-wave sheet beam backward wave oscillator (BWO) is presented in this paper. The rectangular waveguide grating structure is used as its slow wave structure. The BWO is driven by a sheet beam with a cross-sectional area of 30 mm × 1 mm which is generated by a thin cathode. For a beam voltage of 167 kV and a beam current of 1.4 kA, the output power is 40 MW at 36.6 GHz. The beam-wave interaction efficiency is about 17%, which is higher than that of conventional hollow beam BWO. It is clear from the results presented in this paper that the sheet beam device is promising for producing high-efficiency high-power millimeter-wave radiation.

47 citations


"A Ku-band high power backward wave ..." refers background in this paper

  • ...A report [9] was also introduced on the design of the sheet beam high-power backward wave oscillator (BWO) at 36....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the dispersion characteristics of a rectangular waveguide grating for microwave amplifier applications are investigated. But the main advantage of the procedure employed is that it gives directly and with a few spatial harmonics the dispersive relation.
Abstract: We study the dispersion characteristics of a rectangular waveguide grating for microwave amplifier applications. The Floquet theorem and an appropriate standing waves expansion is employed to express the fields in the vacuum region and inside the grooves, respectively. The application of the boundary conditions leads to an infinite system of equations, which is solved numerically by truncation. The main advantage of the procedure employed is that it gives directly and with a few spatial harmonics the dispersion relation. Furthermore, an adequate procedure (simulation tool) has been introduced in order to distinguish the real roots from spurious solutions and it has been found to work effectively for all cases presented in this work. Numerical results are presented for both shallow and deep grooves and comparison with previously published works is made.

31 citations


"A Ku-band high power backward wave ..." refers background in this paper

  • ...By solving the dispersion equation [10][11] of the slow wave structure, we find that the grating depth h, the period p and the number of the period n dominate the dispersion relation....

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