Traveling-wave-tube simulation: The IBC code

An interactive beam-circuit code (IBC) is presented, to run interactively on fast PCs or workstations, for purposes of first-cut design of traveling-wave tubes (TWTs) at small and large amplitudes. The new physics parts are the use of particle-in-cell methods to obtain the space-charge forces, and the following of the electron beam over the full length of the tube. The model is fully nonlinear and one-dimensional, with the transverse space-charge fields approximated by one mode. The slow-wave circuit is modeled by a transmission line. All variables are displayed continuously, such as the velocity displacement of all the particles (phase space), beam charge and current densities, space-charge field, circuit field, voltage and current, circuit power, and the location of the added loss. Some initial runs are presented