Compact, High Power Millimeter Wave Generator

THIS PROPOSAL IS FOR THE STUDY AND DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPACT, HIGH POWER TUNABLE MILLIMETER WAVE GENERATOR. SPECIFICALLY IT IS FOR A COMPACT OROTRON TUBE OPERATING IN THE 94 GHz (W-BAND) RANGE WITH POWER OUTPUTS ON THE ORDER ON 10 WATTS. SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF THE OROTRON DEVICES DEPENDS CRITICALLY ON TWO KEY TECHNOLOGIES, THE GENERATION AND PROPAGATION OF A HIGH CURRENT DENSITY SHEET-LIKE ELECTRON BEAM, AND THE HIGH Q OPEN RESONATOR OROTRON CAVITY. HIGH CURRENT DENSITY (>20A/cm2) SHEET ELECTRON BEAM FROM A RUGGED LaB6 CATHODE ELECTRON GUN HAS RECENTLY BEEN DEVELOPED. THIS TYPE OF ELECTRON BEAM ALLOWS TIGHT COUPLING BETWEEM THE ELECTRON BEAM AND THE OROTRON DIFFRACTION GRATING. THE OROTRON DIFFRACTION GRATING IS BUILT AS A PART OF THE LOWER CAVITY MIRROR ASSEMBLY. CONVENTIONAL OPEN RESONATOR CAVITY ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE IS INADEQUATE. NEW ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE IS REQUIRED. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL LEAD TO A COMPACT OROTRON TUBE THAT ENJOYS HIGH POWER OUTPUT, WIDE FREQUENCY TUNABILITY, AND EXTREMELY PURE SPECTRAL OUTPUT AT W-BAND, FUTURE RESEARCH CAN SCALE THE DEVICE INTO HIGHER FREQUENCY. PHASE I WORK WILL BE DEVOTED TO EVALUATION AND CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF THE SYSTEM AND EVALUATION AND PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF THE COMPACT, HIGH POWER W-BAND MILLIMETER WAVE OROTRON TUBES.