A Gyrotron-Traveling-Wave Tube Amplifier Experiment with a Ceramic Loaded Interaction Region
Abstract
The design and experimental study of a 35-GHz gyrotron-traveling-wave tube (gyro-TWT) amplifier operating in the circular TE01 mode at the fundamental cyclotron harmonic are presented. The interaction circuit in this experiment consisted of a new type of ceramic loading that provided the required loss for stable operation. A saturated peak power of 137 kW was measured at 34.1 GHz, corresponding to a saturated gain of 47.0 dB and an efficiency of 17%, with a -3-dB bandwidth of 1.11 GHz (3.3%). Peak output powers in the range of 102.1 to 148.6kW with -3-dB bandwidths of 1.26 and 0.94 GHz, respectively, were measured by varying the operating parameters. The gyro-TWT was found to be zero-drive stable at these operating points, demonstrating that ceramic loading is a highly effective means of suppressing spurious oscillations in gyro-TWTs. This type of ceramic loading has the added advantage of being compatible with high average power operation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA428971
Entities
People
- Baruch Levush
- Bruce G. Danly
- Jeffrey P. Calame
- Khanh T. Nguyen
- Morag Garven
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory