Design, Fabrication, and Low-Power Tests of a W-band Omniguide Traveling-Wave Tube Structure

• Published in: IEEE transactions on plasma science Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 763 - 767
• Main Authors: Smirnova, E.I., Carlsten, B.E., Earley, L.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01-06-2008; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Band gap; Band structure; Bandwidth; Bandwidths; Broadband amplifiers; Circuit properties; Copper; Dielectric-loaded waveguides; Dielectrics; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronic tubes, masers; Electronics; Electrons; Exact sciences and technology; Fabrication; Laboratories; Microwave circuits, microwave integrated circuits, microwave transmission lines, submillimeter wave circuits; Millimeter wave technology; millimeter-wave power amplifiers; Photonic band gap; photonic band gap (PBG) structures; Receivers & amplifiers; Silicon compounds; Testing; traveling-wave tubes (TWTs); Dielectric-loaded waveguides; Microwave device; traveling-wave tubes (TWTs); Electron beam; Travelling wave tube; Waveguide; Silica; Microwave tube; Design; Microwave generator; Millimetric wave; Microwave technology; Photonic band; Bandwidth; W band; Radiofrequency amplifiers; Slow wave structure; Microwave resonator; Copper; millimeter-wave power amplifiers; photonic band gap (PBG) structures
• ISSN: 0093-3813; 1939-9375
• DOI: 10.1109/TPS.2008.923748

We have designed, fabricated, and tested with low power a novel W-band traveling-wave tube (TWT) structure based on a slow-wave cylindrically symmetric photonic band gap (PBG) structure, or an ldquoomniguide.rdquo The development of wideband millimeter-wave power amplifiers is underway at Los Alamos National Laboratory. PBG TWT structures have great potential for very large bandwidth and linear dispersion. In addition, being cheap to fabricate, the PBG structures enhance commercial transferability of W-band TWT technology. The omniguide structure was designed and fabricated with silica dielectric with a copper harness. Cold-test results were found to be in excellent agreement with the design. A bandwidth of more than 10% was demonstrated. This structure is designed to generate millimeter-wave RF when driven by a 2-A 120-keV electron beam.