Zhenxing Jin

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.

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.

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.

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...

An oversized X-band transit radiation oscillator

An oversized transit radiation oscillator is designed to generate high power microwave at X-band. By using a coaxial structure, the power capacity of the device is improved significantly. In order to realize long-pulse operation, the cathode-anode gap, the collector location, and the surface field strength have been emphatically considered in our design. With a 710 kV, 14.5 kA beam guided by a 0.8 T magnetic field, a 2.7 GW microwave at 9.38 GHz has been obtained in the simulation. The power conversion efficiency is 26.2%. The simulation also indicates that the highest axial electric field strength on the surface of electrodynamic structure is only 590 kV/cm, which could be further decreased by increasing the radial dimension of the X-band device.

Combining microwave beams with high peak power and long pulse duration

The beam combining results with a metal dichroic plate illuminated by the S/X band gigawatt level high power microwaves are presented. According to the previous experiments, the microwave breakdown problem becomes obvious when the peak power and the pulse duration increase, thus, several methods for enhancing the power handling capacity have been considered, and the metal dichroic plates are redesigned to handle the S/X band high power microwaves. Then the design, fabrication, and testing procedure are discussed in detail. The further experimental results reveal that, operated on the self-built accelerator Spark-04, the radiated powers from the S and X band sources have reached 1.8 GW with pulse durations of about 80 ns, and both beams have been successfully operated on the selected dichroic plate without microwave breakdown.

Purification of the output modes of overmoded relativistic backward wave oscillators

Successful suppression of mode competition in the beam-wave interaction process of overmoded relativistic backward wave oscillators (RBWOs) cannot ensure the output modes purity. Optimizing the magnitude and the phase of the mode conversion coefficients in the devices is significant for purifying the output modes. A universal method of purifying the TM{sub 01} and TM{sub 02} mixed modes output by overmoded RBWOs without decreasing the total output power is presented in this paper. With this method, we purify the TM{sub 01} and TM{sub 02} mixed modes generated in an X-band overmoded RBWO (D/λ ≈ 2.6) operated at the constant diode voltage of 730 kV. Dependence of modes purification effect on the variation of diode voltage is also analyzed in particle-in-cell simulation. Our analysis indicates that when the diode voltage is in the range of (730 ± 60) kV, the percentage of output power carried by TM{sub 01} mode will be higher than 95%.

Successful Suppression of Pulse Shortening in an

Long-pulse operation of relativistic backward-wave oscillators (RBWOs) is seriously handicapped by pulseshortening phenomenon. Explosive emission plasma formed on the surface of slow-wave structures (SWSs) due to RF breakdown is considered to be the predominant cause of pulse shortening in RBWOs. Utilizing overmoded SWSs with large diameter is effective for decreasing the field strength on the surface of SWSs and the possibility of RF breakdown. However, multiple modes may be output simultaneously in overmoded RBWOs. In this paper, both the power capacity and output mode purity of an X-band overmoded RBWO are substantially improved through optimizing the profile of the SWSs and geometric parameters of the whole electrodynamic structures. As a result, we successfully suppress pulse shortening and achieve pure TM01 mode output simultaneously. The first ever reported experimental result is that the pure TM01 mode is radiated with a power of 2 GW, a pulse duration of 116 ns, a power efficiency of 28%, and a repetition rate of 30 Hz.

X

Higher power and longer pulse are the trend of the development of high power microwave (HPM), and then some problems emerge in measuring the power of HPM because rf breakdown is easier to occur under the circumstance of high power (the level of gigawatt) and long pulse (about 100 ns). In order to measure the power of the dominant TM₀₁ mode of an X-band long pulse overmoded HPM source, a directional coupler with stable coupling coefficient, high directivity, and high power handling capacity in wide band is investigated numerically and experimentally. At the central frequency 9.4 GHz, the simulation results show that the coupling coefficient is -59.6 dB with the directivity of 35 dB and the power handling capacity of 2 GW. The coupling coefficient is calibrated to be accordant with the simulation results. The high power tests are performed on an X-band long pulse HPM source, whose output mode is mainly TM₀₁ mode, and the results show that the measured power and waveform of the directional coupler have a good consistency with the far-field measuring results.

-Band Overmoded Relativistic Backward-Wave Oscillator With Pure

Most of the investigated overmoded relativistic backward wave oscillators (RBWOs) are azimuthally symmetric; thus, they are designed through two dimensional (2-D) particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. However, 2-D PIC simulations cannot reveal the effect of asymmetric modes on beam-wave interaction. In order to investigate whether asymmetric mode competition needs to be considered in the design of overmoded RBWOs, a numerical method of determining the composition of both symmetric and asymmetric modes in three dimensional (3-D) PIC simulations is introduced in this paper. The 2-D and 3-D PIC simulation results of an X-band overmoded RBWO are analyzed. Our analysis indicates that the 2-D and 3-D PIC simulation results of our device are quite different due to asymmetric mode competition. In fact, asymmetric surface waves, especially EH11 mode, can lead to serious mode competition when electron beam propagates near the surface of slow wave structures (SWSs). Therefore, additional method of suppressing asymmetric mode competition, such as adjusting the reflections at both ends of SWSs to decrease the Q-factor of asymmetric modes, needs to be utilized in the design of overmoded RBWOs. Besides, 3-D PIC simulation and modes decomposition are essential for designing overmoded RBWOs.