Experimental Investigation of a Novel Circuit for Millimeter-Wave TWTs

A novel folded waveguide circuit that features thick iron pole pieces with hollow centers was built as part of a periodic-permanent-magnet-focused W-band single-stage test-vehicle traveling-wave tube (TWT). These hollow centers, which comprise part of the slow wave circuit, increase the rms axial fi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on electron devices 2007-05, Vol.54 (5), p.1054-1060
Main Authors: Theiss, A.J., Meadows, C.J., True, R.B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Beams (radiation)
Circuit design
Circuit properties
Circuits
Devices
Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits
Electron guns
Electronic circuits
Electronic tubes, masers
Electronics
Exact sciences and technology
folded waveguides
Microwave circuits, microwave integrated circuits, microwave transmission lines, submillimeter wave circuits
Noise levels
Oscillators, resonators, synthetizers
periodic-permanent-magnet (PPM) focusing
Plasma
Regenerative
Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices
slow-wave circuits
Three dimensional
Traveling wave tubes
traveling-wave tubes (TWTs)
Vacuum microelectronics
W-band RF
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Summary:A novel folded waveguide circuit that features thick iron pole pieces with hollow centers was built as part of a periodic-permanent-magnet-focused W-band single-stage test-vehicle traveling-wave tube (TWT). These hollow centers, which comprise part of the slow wave circuit, increase the rms axial field and significantly reduce the unwanted transverse field imbalance. For this TWT, a tetrode gun that creates an ultralaminar 20-kV 0.25-A nominal electron beam was used. It was demonstrated that this gun and magnetic structure can provide greater than 97% beam transmission for peak beam power levels as high as 9.25 kW (25 kV, 0.37 A). The unplated circuit, operating around 91 GHz on the edge of a passband, exhibits between 10 dB and 12 dB gain that compares favorably with results of device modeling utilizing the 3D particle-in-cell code Magic3D. Using a feedback approach to characterize large-signal operation, the tube generated 40 W of regenerative oscillator power. Design-optimized versions of this circuit show promise of enabling W-band TWT amplifiers that provide up to 300 W of peak RF output power
ISSN:0018-9383
1557-9646
DOI:10.1109/TED.2007.894255