Effects of Multiple Internal Reflections on the Small-Signal Gain and Phase of a TWT

Author

Chernin, David ; Rittersdorf, Ian ; Lau, Y.Y. ; Antonsen, Thomas M., Jr. ; Levush, Baruch

Author_Institution

Sci. Applic. Int. Corp. (SAIC), McLean, VA, USA

Volume

59

Issue

5

fYear

2012

fDate

5/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1542

Lastpage

1550

Abstract

We formulate and solve a set of equations that model the effects of reflections from an arbitrary number of circuit discontinuities in a traveling-wave tube (TWT) operating under small-signal conditions. Applying this model to a case in which the discontinuities represent a series of small random pitch variations due to fabrication errors in a helix TWT, we find that reflections may significantly increase the statistical effects on the gain and output phase first reported in the work of Pengvanich In another example, we report on a study of the effects of many small pitch errors on gain ripple in a 220-GHz folded waveguide TWT.

Keywords

travelling wave tubes; waveguides; folded waveguide TWT; frequency 220 GHz; helix TWT; multiple internal reflections; small-signal gain; traveling-wave tube; Boundary conditions; Equations; Gain; Integrated circuit modeling; Joints; Mathematical model; Scattering; Gain variation; phase variation; tolerance analysis; traveling wave tube;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TED.2012.2186141

Filename

6178779