Relativistic Klystron Research Articles

Design of an X-band high-efficiency coaxial relativistic klystron oscillator packaged with permanent magnet

Design of an X-band high-efficiency coaxial relativistic klystron oscillator packaged with permanent magnet

An X-band coaxial relativistic klystron oscillator with a novel diode structure packaged with permanent magnet

To achieve compactness and miniaturization for high-power microwave devices, this paper proposes an X-band permanent magnet-packaged coaxial relativistic klystron oscillator (RKO) with a novel diode structure featuring a stair-step cathode. First, by adopting a large-radius anode structure, the emission of beam currents from the side of the cathode surface is diminished, thereby reducing the proportion of the backward current in the beam current from 10% to 7%. Second, a stair-step cathode is used to inhibit the return flow of electron beams from striking the anode and generating plasma. Concurrently, a radially non-uniform coaxial resonant cavity structure is employed to enhance the fundamental wave modulation depth of the electron beam and improve the beam–wave interaction's efficiency. The experimental results show that the novel device outputs a microwave with a frequency of 9.46 GHz and a pulse width of 55 ns. It generates a power output of 1.5 GW with an efficiency of approximately 30.5%, in the case in which the diode voltage is 505 kV, the beam current is 9.7 kA, and the guiding magnetic flux density is 0.4 T. This novel structure surpasses traditional diode configurations by enhancing the beam-to-wave conversion efficiency by roughly 10%, thereby offering substantial support for the compactness and miniaturization of RKO.

Analysis and Suppression of Mode Competition in a Relativistic Klystron Oscillator

Analysis and Suppression of Mode Competition in a Relativistic Klystron Oscillator

Cavity online measurements with a coaxial electrical probe in an X band integrally sealed relativistic klystron amplifier.

The electromagnetic characteristics of the input cavity with electron beams loaded are measured successfully in an X-band triaxial relativistic klystron amplifier (TKA) with a high frequency electrical probe. To solve the frequency response issue in the X band, a coaxial electrical probe is optimized and inserted obliquely into the input cavity at the designed angle so that the microwaves in the cavity can be sampled and extracted with the required coupling coefficient while the probe does not interfere with the solenoid coil, which is tightly integrated outside the TKA. Besides, the TKA is redesigned as a structure integrally sealed by the solenoid coil, and the secondary sealing induced by probe insertion is implemented on the flange of the solenoid coils rather than on the wall of the TKA, which is conducive to simplifying the coupling structure while maintaining the high vacuum level. The design is examined in a GW level TKA experiment, indicating that microwaves with a power of about 670MW are generated in the input cavity at a frequency of 8.40GHz, which is completely consistent with the injected and output microwave frequencies.

Research on Mechanism of the Pulse-Shortening in an X-Band Relativistic Klystron Oscillator Caused by the Asymmetric Mode Competition

The phenomenon of pulse shortening caused by asymmetrical mode competition is observed in the <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\textit{X}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> -band relativistic klystron oscillator (RKO). Based on theoretical and simulation analysis of the electronic conductivity, external quality factor, and resonance characteristics of the TM <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{\text{013}}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> mode and asymmetric TM <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{\text{512}}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> mode, the reasons for the excitation of the asymmetric mode are obtained. First, the asymmetric TM <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{\text{512}}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> mode has negative electronic conductors and great external quality factors in the buncher, which provides a starting condition. Second, asymmetric TM <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{\text{512}}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> mode has higher resonance in the extraction structure to provide growth conditions. Therefore, strong positive feedback establishes between the buncher and the extraction structure, which makes the asymmetrical TM <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{\text{512}}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> mode effectively excited. Finally, by optimizing the radius of the extraction structure, the resonance characteristics of the TM <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{\text{013}}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> mode are enhanced, while the asymmetrical mode is weakened. So the TM <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{\text{013}}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> mode establishes stronger positive feedback between the buncher and the extraction structure, effectively suppressing the excitation of the asymmetric mode. The simulation and experimental results show that this method can effectively suppress the excitation of the asymmetrical mode, and solve the problem of pulse shortening.

Coherent Combining of Phase-Steerable High Power Microwaves Generated by Two X-Band Triaxial Klystron Amplifiers with Pulsed Magnetic Fields

We report the first experimental demonstration of coherent combining of phase-steerable high power microwaves (HPMs) generated by X-band relativistic triaxial klystron amplifier modules under the guidance of pulsed magnetic fields. Electronically agile manipulation of the HPM phase is achieved with a mean discrepancy of 4° at the gain level of 110dB, and the coherent combining efficiency has reached as high as 98.4%, leading to combined radiations with equivalent peak power of 4.3GW and average pulse duration of 112ns. The underlying phase-steering mechanism during the nonlinear beam-wave interaction process is furthermore explored by particle-in-cell simulation and theoretical analysis. This Letter paves the way for high power phase array in large scale and may stimulate new interest in research of phase-steerable high power masers.

Design and experimental research of a compact directional coupler for X-band relativistic triaxial klystron amplifier.

To realize online measurement of power, frequency, and phase for a modularized relativistic triaxial klystron amplifier in a narrow space, a compact directional coupler with high directivity, high power handling capacity, and large bandwidth has been investigated numerically and experimentally. The method with coupling holes distributed in both the longitudinal and lateral directions is proposed, and the simulation results indicate that when two holes are employed, directivity larger than 20 dB is achieved over a 300MHz bandwidth in the X-band and the maximal electric field strength is controlled to be 198.5kV/cm with 1 GW power injection, while the whole coupler longitude is optimized to be as short as 50mm. High power experiments have been performed with a 10GHz relativistic triaxial klystron amplifier, and the results show that the measured power, frequency, and phase shift of the directional coupler have good agreement with the results obtained in the far-field.

Stable Operation of a Repetitively Pulsed X-Band Gigawatt Long Pulse Coaxial Multi-Beam Relativistic Klystron Amplifier

In this letter, the stability of an X band gigawatt coaxial multi-beam relativistic klystron amplifier (CMB-RKA) operating in repetitively pulsed mode was investigated by the particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation and experiments. A four-gap extended-interaction output cavity was optimized to avoid electrons reflection. And a water-cooled electron beams collector which was integrated with the output mode converter was designed to reduce the plasma and secondary electrons. The explosive emission conditions were improved by using the C–C composite material cathode, and the titanium beam-wave interaction structure was used to replace the stainless steel structure. All these factors brought greater stability of the CMB-RKA. In the experiment, the X-band CMB-RKA can operate at a 20 pps repetition rate with duration of 120 seconds, when the output power was about 0.95 GW with pulse width of 160 ns. The long-term stability of the X-band CMB-RKA performances during <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10^{{5}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> pulses was realized, which is driven by a long pulse compact accelerator.

A RepetitiveKu-Band Coaxial Relativistic Klystron Amplifier Packaged With Permanent Magnets

A compact Ku-band coaxial relativistic klystron amplifier (RKA) with permanent magnets is proposed for the sake of producing repetitive high-power microwaves (HPMs) in this article. The improved input and output mode converters are designed to load the input signal at the end of this device to ensure the integrity of permanent magnets. Besides, the intense relativistic electron beam (IREB) is changed to be collected on the outer collector, which makes collector cooling feasible in the proposed device. The typical experimental results show that the Ku-band HPM with a power of 540 MW is generated, corresponding to a gain of 48 dB and an efficiency of 29%, when the guiding magnetic field is around 0.45 T produced by the permanent magnets. The result of continuous operation for 30 s at a repetition rate of 35 Hz indicates that the proposed coaxial RKA has the capability of operating at a high repetition rate.

Excitation and suppression of asymmetric modes in a coaxial relativistic klystron amplifier with cascaded single-gap bunching cavities

The excitation and suppression of asymmetric modes in a coaxial relativistic klystron amplifier (RKA) with cascaded single-gap bunching cavities are analyzed in this paper. Through theoretical analysis and simulated verification, we find that the asymmetric modes of cascaded single-gap bunching cavities have low external quality factors, the same resonant frequencies, and negative beam-loading conductance ratios so that they are easily excited by the electron beam. To solve this issue, a feasible method is proposed in this paper to suppress the asymmetric modes of cascaded single-gap bunching cavities, under the conditions of decreasing their coupling coefficients and increasing the frequency separation, choosing an appropriate drift tube length between them. These improved bunching cavities are further examined in an X-band coaxial RKA by 3D particle-in-cell simulation, which shows that high power microwaves with a power of 0.8 GW are generated corresponding to an efficiency of 40%. Furthermore, there is no asymmetric mode competition during 150 ns of simulation time.

Short-Length, High-Efficiency S-Band Coaxial Cavity Relativistic Multibeam Klystron Amplifier for Potential High Power Microwave Application

This letter reports the successful development of an S-band short-length, high-efficiency, coaxial cavity multi-beam relativistic klystron amplifier (CCMB-RKA). The simulation in one-dimensional genetic algorithm, capable of giving high-efficiency parameters, predicted 67% efficiency of CCMB-RKA, taking the interaction length as 600 mm, beam voltage as 420 kV, and beam current as 230 A. However, for accurate results, the CCMB-RKA was simulated again using three-dimensional code CHIPIC, taking RF input power, beam voltage, and beam current as 4.4 kW, 420 kV, and 3.22 kA ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$= {14} \times {230}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> A, 14 being the beam number), respectively, predicting the output power, gain, and efficiency of the device as 810 MW, 53 dB, and 60%, respectively. Finally, the designed CCMB-RKA was built and experimented with. Through 20 groups of the comparative experiments, the GW-level RF output power of the device, typically, 1.027 GW (peak), 60 ns pulse was demonstrated with 55% efficiency, 370 phase jitter, and 53 dB gain, taking the RF input power, beam voltage, and beam current as 4.8 kW, 453 kV, and 4.1 kA, respectively. The results establish the potential of the CCMB-RKA developed for high-power microwave applications.

Preliminary Experimental Investigation of an -Band Low Magnetic Field Coaxial Relativistic Klystron Oscillator

An <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$X$ </tex-math></inline-formula> -band coaxial relativistic klystron oscillator (RKO) is proposed to improve the beam–wave interaction efficiency in the low magnetic field and low impedance. The device adopts a four-gap modulation cavity to increase the fundamental current, and a three-gap extraction cavity is used to improve the microwave extraction capability. The simulation results show that when the guiding magnetic field and impedance are 0.55 T and 40 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Omega $ </tex-math></inline-formula> , respectively, the output microwave power is 3.65 GW and the corresponding efficiency is 40%. Subsequently, a preliminary experimental investigation was carried out to verify the feasibility of this technical route. In the experiment, the output microwave with a power of 2.3 GW, a pulsewidth of 69 ns, and a center frequency of 9.39 GHz was generated when the magnetic field and impedance are 0.62 T and 41 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Omega $ </tex-math></inline-formula> , respectively. Moreover, the explosive electron emission model of the extraction cavity is established, and the simulation results show that the explosive electron emission generated by the radio frequency (RF) breakdown at the extraction cavity is the main reason for the difference between the experimental and simulated microwave power.

A compact coaxial relativistic klystron amplifier with three cascaded single-gap bunching cavities for efficient output

A compact coaxial relativistic klystron amplifier (RKA) with three cascaded bunching cavities is investigated to obtain high efficiency output in this paper. When the injection power and drift tube length are both decreased for the compactness of the initial coaxial RKA, the conversion efficiency of this device decreases to only 20%, which is mainly due to the insufficient modulation of intense relativistic electron beam (IREB). To solve this issue, three cascaded bunching cavities are designed to strengthen the modulation of IREB, and each bunching cavity is designed to a non-uniform single-gap cavity with a high external quality factor. Moreover, a specific drift tube length is chosen for minimizing the TEM mode leakage between every two adjacent cavities. With these methods, the self-oscillation between input and three cascaded bunching cavities can be successfully suppressed without loading any reflectors. The proposed three cascaded single-gap bunching cavities are further examined in a Ku-band coaxial RKA, and the output efficiency of this device increases to 44%, which is more than twice that of the initial coaxial RKA. Furthermore, the injection power and axial length of the propagating IREB in the improved coaxial RKA are reduced to only 5 kW and 10 wavelengths, respectively.

An X-band high-power and high-efficiency coaxial relativistic klystron oscillator with four-gap buncher and three-gap extractor

Because of the scaling invariance, the over-mode ratio of the coaxial resonator can be increased to increase the power handling capability. However, as the over-mode ratio increases, the characteristic impedance and external quality factor decrease, which causes the modulation of the electron beam to be weakened. Moreover, when the output microwave power increases, the double-gap output cavity will suffer from severe radio frequency breakdown. Therefore, an X-band high-power and high-efficiency coaxial relativistic klystron oscillator with a four-gap modulation cavity and a three-gap extraction cavity is proposed. First, a four-gap modulation cavity can increase the modulation depth of the electron beam to improve the beam-wave conversion efficiency. The operating mode of the modulation cavity is the 3π/4 mode of the coaxial TM01 mode. Second, a three-gap extraction cavity is adopted to enhance the microwave extraction energy and reduce the RF field strength. The simulation results show that when the diode voltage is 650 kV, the beam current is 15.4 kA, and the guiding magnetic field is 0.48 T, the device outputs a microwave power of 4.2 GW, a frequency of 8.4 GHz, and an efficiency of 42%.

Simulation of High-Power Klystrons with Heterogeneous Focusing Magnetic Field

The work shows a significant effect of the focusing magnetic field on the output characteristics of the klystron. When the calculations are done using nonlinear one-dimensional models, optimization of the parameters makes it possible to obtain versions of devices with the efficiency of 0.8 – 0.9 and higher. However, when testing these options using nonlinear two-dimensional models that take into account the radial motion of electrons, there is a significant discrepancy in the output characteristics obtained from the one-dimensional and two-dimensional models. This is due to the fact that during the motion of the electron beam, the radii of the leading centers of the large particles change the coefficients of interaction of the particle fields with the electromagnetic fields of the resonators change, which leads to a change in the output characteristics of the klystrons: efficiency, output power, and gain. On the other hand, it seemed that setting a large focusing magnetic field to exclude the radial motion of particles could eliminate this drawback, however, another problem arises here - the magnetic system for focusing becomes unacceptably large and it is technically difficult to obtain magnetic induction values of more than 2 T (the weight of the magnetic system can be several hundred kilograms). Therefore, one should choose the magnetic field induction for focusing the electron beam no more than 1T. In this paper, a twodimensional nonlinear mathematical model (2.5D) is proposed that takes into account the azimuthal component in the equations of motion. In the model, the induction of the focusing magnetic field is set in the form of tables. This makes it possible to set the inhomogeneity of the magnetic field at any place in the interaction space of the klystron. The calculation of a powerful relativistic klystron with an accelerating voltage of 1000 kV and the beam current of 250 A was carried out. The use of an inhomogeneous magnetic field makes it possible to reduce the deposition of electrons in the region of the gaps. Therefore, a decrease in the electron deposition leads to an increase in the durability of klystrons.

Coherent Combination of Power in Space With Two X-Band Gigawatt Coaxial Multi-Beam Relativistic Klystron Amplifiers

The power capacity of an individual high power microwave (HPM) generator is severely limited by internal electric field breakdown, and the problem becomes more serious for long pulse and high frequency bands. One of the promising solutions to overcome this limitation is coherent combination of power in space. To realize coherent combination of power in space, the HPM generators must operate at the same frequency and stable phase differences. We presented an improved X-band gigawatt coaxial multi-beam relativistic klystron amplifier (CMB-RKA) with high phase stability. Two double gap buncher cavities were designed to improve the beam wave interaction efficiency, and decrease the distance for the modulated intense relativistic electron beam to reach its maximum, which significantly decrease the phase jitter due to the fluctuation of electron beam voltage and improve the phase stability of the CMB-RKA. Experimentally, the two X-band gigawatt CMB-RKA demonstrated the capability of coherent combination of power in space, typically of the combined efficiency of about 95% with the combined pulse width of 150 ns.

Investigation on High-Efficiency Beam-Wave Interaction for Coaxial Multi-Beam Relativistic Klystron Amplifier

To significantly improve the electronic efficiency of coaxial multi-beam relativistic klystron amplifier (CMB-RKA), the physical process of beam-wave interaction and parameters that affect efficiency was studied. First, the high efficiency of beam-wave interaction was discussed by simulating the efficiency versus the parameters (frequency of cavity, drift tube length between cavities, and external quality factor of output cavity), in the one-dimensional (1-D) large-signal simulation software. Moreover, the further physical process of beam-wave interaction was analyzed through simulating the current modulation factor and the number of particles at the entrance of the output cavity, in the three-dimensional (3-D) particle in cell simulation software. Last, with the optimal parameters in 3-D simulations, the CMB-RKA, which has 14 electron beams with a total current of 4.2 kA (14 × 300 A), can generate an output power of 1.02 GW with a saturation gain of 55.6 dB and an efficiency of 48.7%, when beam voltage is 500 kV, which indicated the CMB-RKA can achieve high efficiency for high-power microwave radiation.

Modular Integration of a Compact Ku-Band Relativistic Triaxial Klystron Amplifier Packaged With Permanent Magnets for High-Power Microwave Generation

To achieve modular integration of relativistic triaxial klystron amplifier (TKA) devices and reduce the energy consumption of the whole high-power microwave (HPM) system, a compact Ku-band TKA packaged with permanent magnets is proposed and investigated in this paper. By optimizing the electromagnetic structure and utilizing TEM mode energy coupling, the length of the uniform magnetic field area required for the Ku-band TKA is reduced from 32 cm to 19.6 cm, with a reduction rate of 39%. By utilizing the NdFeB-N50M mainly magnetized in the <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${R}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> direction, a permanent magnet guiding system weighing 90 kg is proposed. Besides, the length of the uniform zone is 20 cm with a longitudinal magnetic field of 0.5 T. Verified by the PIC simulation software CHPIC, an HPM with power of 430 MW and frequency of 14.25 GHz is generated when the diode voltage, current, and the injected microwave power are 340 kV, 4.2 kA, and 15 kW, respectively. The phase jitter of the output microwave is controlled within <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\pm } 5{^\circ }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> , which is beneficial to the coherent power combination of modular integrated TKA devices

Demonstration of a Ka-Band Oversized Coaxial Multi-Beam Relativistic Klystron Amplifier for High Power Millimeter-Wave Radiation

We proposed an oversized coaxial multi-beam relativistic klystron amplifier (OCMB-RKA) with a new input coupler of lesser complexity giving enhanced input microwave power absorption rate for generating high power millimeter-wave radiation in Ka-band. The high-frequency structure of the OCMB-RKA was designed, fabricated, and cold-tested for results that agreed well with the simulated results. Furthermore, using the 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) code, the beam-wave interaction of the OCMB-RKA was simulated, considering two different materials (stainless steel and copper) making the interaction structure. When a 500 kV, 3 kA electron beam, and a focusing magnetic flux intensity of 1 T were adopted in the PIC simulation, a five-cavity OCMB-RKA yielded the output power of 610 MW at 30.525 GHz with the electronic efficiency of 40.7% and the saturated gain of 55.3 dB. Experimentally, the OCMB-RKA demonstrated its capability of generating high power Ka-band radiation typically of 390 MW power with the pulse width of 27 ns.

Efficiency Enhancement of a High Power Radial-Line Relativistic Klystron Amplifier Driven by Disk Intense Electron Beam

The power conversion efficiency of relativistic klystron amplifiers (RKAs) is severely limited by the strong space-charge repulsion force caused by the intense electron beam. A radial-line RKA (RL-RKA) driven by the disk beam may provide great potentials to alleviate this issue due to its radially propagating characteristic of the electron beam. However, such potential advantage of high efficiency has not been fully exploited in previous research due to the insufficient beam modulation and relatively low beam-wave coupling strength. In this article, an initial RL-RKA is improved significantly by utilizing a three-stage cascaded bunching link, a four-gap output cavity, and a lengthened drift tube. The three-stage cascaded bunching link plays a role in increasing the fundamental harmonic current and decreasing the velocity spread of the electron beam simultaneously. The four-gap output cavity is designed to improve the coupling impedance and strengthen the beam-wave power conversion. Moreover, a drift tube is lengthened suitably to boost the fundamental harmonic current further. Eventually, the power conversion efficiency of the RL-RKA is enhanced up to 67% by these measures, which indicates a significant advance over the initial state of 38%.