A HIGH POWER X-BAND SHEET-BEAM KLYSTRON

THIS PROJECT IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF A SHEET-BEAM KLYSTRON (SBK) AS A DEVICE TO GENERATE HIGH POWER (>200 MW), HIGH FREQUENCY (11.4 GHZ), MICROSECOND-LONGMICROWAVES WITH HIGH EFFICIENCY (60%). SBK IS AN EXTENDED CONCEPT OF THE CONVENTIONAL KLYSTRON, WITH THE ROUND BEAM REPLACED BY A FLAT SHEET BEAM. A LOW PERVEANCE SBK IS DESIGNED TO PRODUCE PULSED HIGH RADIO FREQUENCY (RF) POWER WHILE OPERATING AT LOW VOLTAGE TO MINIMIZE RADIATION HAZARDSAND SYSTEM COSTS AND AT LOW CURRENT DENSITY TO MITIGATE SPACE CHARGE EFFECTS. MICROWAVES FROM SUCH A SOURCE CAN BE USED IN COMBINATION WITH MODERN PULSE COMPRESSION TECHNIQUESTO PRODUCE GIGAWATT POWER WITH SHORT (ABOUT 100 NS) PULSES. IN PHASE I, THEORETICAL AND NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS ARE BEING PERFORMED TO STUDY THE BEAM DYNAMICS AND RF ISSUES AND TO ESTABLISH A RANGE OF PARAMETERS IN BEAM CURRENT AND VOLTAGE,HENCE PERVEANCE, OVER WHICH SBK CAN OPERATE EFFICIENTLY. IN PHASE II, A DETAILED COMPONENT DESIGN IS TO BE MADE FOR AN SBK PROTOTYPE.