Nonlinear wave propagation in traveling–wave amplifiers

A method is given for computing the efficiency of traveling-wave amplifiers with high gain and low C, including the effects of space charge and attenuation. The ballistics of the electrons is governed by the Boltzmann transport equation which, together with the circuit equation, is solved in a power series expansion of the input voltage. Only the first two terms of this series are computed and various nonlinear results are given in the form of curves. It appears that for small C and small convergence parameters, overtaking affects the nonlinear operation slightly.