Particle-in-cell model of a relativistic magnetron system driven by a pulse forming network Marx generator

Abstract

A three dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) model of a relativistic magnetron (RM) is established using CST Studio Suite. As we adopted a novel technique to imitate pulse forming action of pulser, simulation domain is now fully extended to include a pulser, a transmission line, and a magnetron tube. This feature enables the model to describe a dynamic power coupling process between the pulser and RM in a self-consistent manner. It is demonstrated that model accuracy is strongly dependent on user-defined parameters for an explosive electron emission model. Particularly, emission rise time for space charge formation influences significantly on an initial mode competition phase. Compared to a previous excitation method using a step voltage pulse, the new model gives more reliable results as the intrinsic impedance of the pulser is now considered. Our model is able to estimate the major RM characteristics over a wide range of an external magnetic field. As a result of dynamic power coupling, the RM impedance, the gap voltage, the excitation frequency, and the output power tend to increase at a higher external magnetic field condition. It is suitable to adopt a proposed modeling technique for the virtual assemble and simulation of the system. Hence, it will suggest a practical way to implement and verify complicated structures or innovative designs that could not be solved by existing PIC codes.