Waveguide system for high-power microwave pulse compression

McStravick, M. and Cross, A.W. and He, W. and Ronald, K. and Whyte, C.G. and Phelps, A.D.R. and Konoplev, I.V. and McInnes, P.; (2009) Waveguide system for high-power microwave pulse compression. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Vacuum Electronics Conference. IEEE International Vacuum Electronics Conference IVEC . Optical Society of America, New York, pp. 62-63. ISBN 978-1-4244-3500-5 (https://doi.org/10.1109/IVELEC.2009.5193358)

Full text not available in this repository.Request a copy

Abstract

X-band passive microwave pulse compression is an interesting area of research in vacuum electronics. Applications include radar technology, plasma diagnostics etc. [1] The scientific study of producing high-power nanosecond microwave pulses, using passive sweep-frequency compression, was undertaken. Two novel helically corrugated waveguides were investigated; 3-fold and 5-fold, respectively. The 3-fold structure couples a TE1,1 travelling wave with a near cut-off TE2,1 wave producing a region far from cut-off with a large change in group velocity as a function of frequency. A 2.08 metre long copper helical waveguide was used to compress a 80ns, 5.5kW frequency-swept pulse from a high power TWT (TMD PTC6321), driven by an arbitrary waveform generator and vector signal generator, to a 1.5ns, 135kW pulse containing similar to 75% of the energy of the input pulse. To enhance the power capabilities of the microwave pulse compressor a more overmoded larger diameter 5-fold helical waveguide structure which adiabatically couples a TE3,1 traveling wave and a near cut-off TE2,2 wave was studied. Analysis of the dispersion characteristics carried out using CST MWS will be presented.

ORCID iDs

McStravick, M., Cross, A.W. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7672-1283, He, W. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7018-0527, Ronald, K. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8585-0746, Whyte, C.G. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5431-2443, Phelps, A.D.R. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1100-1012, Konoplev, I.V. and McInnes, P.;