Multiport Relativistic Magnetron for Phased Array Application

Abstract

A preliminary investigation on S-band multiport relativistic magnetron (RM) is carried out, which is targeted at the application of high-power microwave (HPM) phased array system. For such system, the phase synchronization and stabilization of sources are crucial. In the proposed multiport RM, the HPMs in four independent output ports are extracted from the same resonant system, thus having the same amplitude and phase naturally. Moreover, the output mode of such multiport RM is fundamental mode, which can achieve Gaussian radiation in the far field directly. Since mode convertors and phase-locked units are no longer necessary, it is beneficial to the miniaturization of HPM phased array system. To further control the phase of output signals, a wide side dimension adjustable phase shifter used for this multiport RM is designed, which could achieve 180° phase shift with a power handling capacity of 568 MW. Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of such multiport RM combined with phase shifters applied a diode voltage of 450 kV is carried out. When all output signals are adjusted to be in- phase, an average output power of 265 MW in each port can be obtained, corresponding to a power conversion efficiency up to 65%, and the relative phase differences are controlled within ±2.4%.