Development of a Compact Broadband High Power Microwave Source/Amplifier
Abstract
Vacuum Electronic Devices (VEDs) remain the basis for many HPM technologies, where the generation of high-power EM waves is achieved by converting the kinetic energy of a charged particle beam into electromagnetic (RF/microwave) energy. In spite of the fields# maturity, research into the coherent interaction of electromagnetic fields with charged-particle beams is currently experiencing substantial renewed interest. Driven by the spectacular progress in mastering the production of subwavelength electrodynamic structures, and our ability to produce and manipulate electron beams. The recent progress in fabrication of subwavelength electrodynamic structures has paved the way for the fabrication of artificial electromagnetic materials (AEMs).The application of artificial materials (including metamaterials) in VEDs presents a challenging environment for the materials. Conventional realisations of materials fabricated from sub-0.1# geometries of SRRs or CSRRs, even at relatively low power can suffer from catastrophic failure. High power CSSR based materials can be designed/fabricated from ~0.16# geometries, capable of withstanding MW peak power levels, although these structures offer a very narrow band of operation. Our recent work has shown that by utlising sub-0.16 # geometries enables artificial materials to be fabricated that exhibit a very broad bandwidth response. [Seviour, R., #Towards photonic crystal and metamaterial high-power microwave applications#, DOI: 10.1049/cp.2009.0004. Seviour, R., #Metamaterial Survivability in the High-Power Microwave Environment#, DOI: 10.1002/9781119384472.ch9].The main thrust of this proposal is to circumvent limitations of conventional technologies bycombining the novel capability of artificial materials to regulate wave dispersion to enable the development of compact high-power Cherenkov maser amplifiers and oscillators. Where an interaction region loaded with an artificial material can be made to have band-stop or band-pass characteristics, backward waves or slow waves. As such they can be used to produce Cherenkov radiation when excited by an electron beam. Building upon our previous work we propose the development of a multi-beam metamaterial VED RF source. To design, build and test multiple engineered slow-wave material blocks capable of phase-locked broadband interaction with an electron beam as a novel RF source/amplifier covering X-band and Ku-band.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 24, 2024
- Source ID
- N629092412014
Entities
People
- Rebecca Seviour
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Huddersfield