Huihuang Zhong

Recent Advance in Long-Pulse HPM Sources With Repetitive Operation in S-, C-, and X-Bands

Recent experimental results of three kinds of long-pulse high-power microwave (HPM) sources operating in S-, C-, and X-bands are reported. The difficulties in producing a long-pulse HPM for the O-type Cerenkov HPM source were analyzed theoretically. In S- and C-bands, single-mode relativistic backward-wave oscillators were designed to achieve long-pulse HPM outputs; in X-band, because of its shorter wavelength, an O-type Cerenkov HPM source with overmoded slow-wave systems was designed to increase power capacity. In experiments, driven by a repetitive long-pulse accelerator, both S- and C-band sources generated HPMs with power of about 2 GW and pulse duration of about 100 ns in single-shot mode, and the S-band source operated stably with output power of 1.2 GW in 20-Hz repetition mode. The X-band source generated 2 GW microwaves power with pulse duration of 80 ns in the single-shot mode and 1.2 GW microwave power with pulse duration of about 100 ns in the 20-Hz repetition mode. The experiments show good performances of the O-type Cerenkov HPM source in generating repetitive long-pulse HPMs, especially in S- and C-bands. It was suggested that explosive emissions on surfaces of designed eletrodynamic structures restrained pulse duration and operation stability.

Recent progress of the improved magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator

The improved magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator (MILO) is a gigawatt-class L-band high power microwave tube driven by a 550 kV, 57 kA, 50 ns electron beam. It has allowed us to generate 2.4 GW pulse of 22 ns duration. The recent progress of the improved MILO is presented in this paper. First, a field shaper cathode is introduced into the improved MILO to avoid the cathode flares in the triple point region. The experimental results show that the cathode flares are avoided, so the lifetime of the velvet cathode is longer than that of the taper cathode. Furthermore, the shot-to-shot reproducibility is better than that of the taper cathode. Second, In order to prolong the pulse duration and increase the radiated microwave power, a self-built 600 kV, 10 Omega, 80 ns pulser: SPARK-03 is employed to drive the improved MILO. Simulation and experimental investigation are performed. In simulation, when the improved MILO is driven by a 600 kV, 57 kA electron beam, high-power microwave is generated with output power of 4.15 GW, frequency of 1.76 GHz, and relevant power conversion efficiency of 12.0%. In experiments, when the diode voltage is 550 kV and current is 54 kA, the measured results are that the radiated microwave power is above 3.1 GW, the pulse duration is above 40 ns, the microwave frequency is about 1.755 GHz, and the power conversion efficiency is about 10.4%.

Repetition rate operation of an improved magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator

In order to investigate the performances of repetition rate (rep-rate) operation of an improved magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator (MILO), a series of experiments are carried out on the improved MILO device, which is driven by a 40 Ω, 50 ns rep-rate pulser: TORCH-01. Polymer velvet and graphite cathodes are tested respectively in the experiments, whose diameters and lengths are the same. The results of experimental comparison between them are presented in the paper. Both cathodes are tested at electric field strengths of about 300kV/cm. The applied voltage has 60 ns duration with a rise time of 10 ns. This paper focuses on the performance of the voltage and current characteristics, the shot-to-shot reproducibility, the pressure evolution of the diode, and the lifetime of the cathodes, not upon the radiated microwave power. The experimental results show that the graphite cathode is superior to the velvet cathode in the lifetime and the shot-to-shot reproducibility during the rep-rate operation, and it is a promising cathode for the MILO device under the rep-rate conditions.

An L-band coaxial relativistic backward wave oscillator with mechanical frequency tunability

The initial experimental results of an L-band coaxial relativistic backward wave oscillator with mechanical frequency tunability are presented. The key effects of the inner-conductor contributing to the mechanical frequency tunability are investigated theoretically and experimentally. In the experiments, the L-band microwave with frequency of 1.58 GHz is radiated when the inner-conductor radius is 1.5 cm. Meanwhile, the S-band microwave with frequency of 2.31 GHz is generated after removing the inner-conductor. In addition, the frequency tuning within 4% is realized by mechanically altering the radius of the inner-conductor at a half power level.

Analysis and improvement of an X-band magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator

An X-band magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator has been investigated theoretically and experimentally in our laboratory. However, severe pulse shortening and electrode erosion are observed in the experiments. The theoretical analyses show that anode plasma formation in the load region is the essential reason for the pulse shortening and electrode erosion. In order to eliminate or at least minimize anode plasma formation in the load region, an improved beam dump is presented. The theoretical analyses show that anode plasma formation can be eliminated or at least minimized in the improved beam dump.

Studies on Efficient Operation of an X-Band Oversized Slow-Wave HPM Generator in Low Magnetic Field

The efficient operation of high-power microwave (HPM) sources using slow-wave structures (SWSs) in low magnetic field has been an attractive aim pursued by HPM researchers. This paper presents the latest experimental results of an X-band oversized SWS HPM source operating at low guiding magnetic field with both power and efficiency enhancements. Driven by an electron accelerator with diode voltages of 450-900 kV, the generator operated with the output microwave power ranging from 0.5 to 3 GW and the efficiency being kept at about 25%. The optimized magnetic field was in the 0.5-0.75 T range, depending on diode voltages. Without the employment of superconductive-solenoid system, a very stable 100-Hz repetitive operation with 1.5-GW output microwave power was realized in the 1-s-burst mode.

Asymmetric-mode competition in a relativistic backward wave oscillator with a coaxial slow-wave structure

The initial experimental results of an L-band relativistic backward wave oscillator with a coaxial slow-wave structure are presented. The asymmetric-mode-competition mechanism in the device is investigated theoretically and experimentally. It is shown that the diode voltage, guiding-magnetic field, and concentricity play a key role in the suppression and excitation of the asymmetric-mode (coaxial quasi-TE11 mode). In the experiments, the asymmetric-mode with a frequency of 2.05 GHz is suppressed and excited, which is in good agreement with the theoretical results.

Analysis of the mode composition of an X-band overmoded O-type Cerenkov high-power microwave oscillator

Overmoded slow wave structures (SWSs) with large diameter are utilized in O-type Cerenkov high-power microwave (HPM) sources for their high power capacity. However, multi-modes may be output simultaneously in the overmoded O-type Cerenkov HPM sources. In order to achieve high mode purity, the mode composition of the output power should be analyzed quantitatively when the structure of this type of device is being optimized. Two accurate numerical methods of making quantitative analysis of the mode composition in particle-in-cell model are introduced in this paper. And then, the mode composition of an X-band O-type Cerenkov oscillator with overmoded SWSs (D/λ ≈ 2.7) is analyzed. The analysis indicates that appropriate selection of the parameters of overmoded SWSs and electron beam is important, as mentioned in previous reports, for realizing mode selection in beam-wave interaction. Besides, designing of the mode conversion effect, which is rarely discussed, can also affect the mode purity of output power. A...

Transversal and longitudinal mode selections in double-corrugation coaxial slow-wave devices

To reduce the dimensions of relativistic backward wave oscillators (RBWOs) operating in the low frequency regime of less than 2 GHz, the theory of transversal and longitudinal mode selections are introduced in this paper. The transversal mode selection is achieved using the property of “surface wave” of the coaxial slow-wave structure (SWS) to excite the quasi transverse electromagnetic (quasi-TEM) mode without the higher transverse magnetic (TM) modes and it is proved that the coaxial SWS may decrease the transversal dimension of the SWS sections. In addition, the S-parameter method is employed to investigate the longitudinal resonant characteristic of the finite-length SWS, and the scheme of longitudinal mode selection is put forward. It is proposed that the introduction of a well-designed coaxial extractor to slow-wave devices can help to achieve the longitudinal mode selection and reduce the period number of the SWS, which not only can make the devices more compact, but also can avoid the destructive ...

Complex magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator

A magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator (MILO) is a crossed-field device designed specifically to generate microwave power at the gigawatt level, which is a major hotspot in the field of high-power microwaves (HPM) research at present. It is one of the major thrust for MILO development to improve the power conversion efficiency. In order to improve the power conversion efficiency of MILO, a complex MILO is presented and investigated theoretically and numerically, which comprises the MILO-1 and MILO-2. The MILO-2 is used as the load of the MILO-1. The theoretical analyses show that the maximum power conversion efficiency of the complex MILO has an increase of about 50% over the conventional load-limited MILO. The complex MILO is optimized with KARAT code (V. P. Tarakanov, Berkeley Research Associates, Inc., 1992), and the simulation results agree with the theoretical results.