Experimental studies on a coaxial vircator, designed for operation in TE11 mode

Experiments on a coaxial vircator have been performed. A vircator is a narrow band high power microwave source without any external generated magnetic field [1]. A coaxial vircator is an advantageous design of a microwave radiation source for a compact HPM-system. With a limited size and outer diameter it is possible to use a larger emitting area compared to an axial design. A conventional coaxial vircator will generate the radiation in TM₀₁ mode, due to its geometrical properties. For a compact HPM-system, radiation in TE₁₁ mode is preferred when the radiated energy needs to be focused on a specific target. For operation in TE₁₁ mode a sectioned emitter can be used rather than a circumcircular. The efficiency of the vircator can be greatly improved by optimizing the geometry of the vircator housing. The impedance of the pulsed power supply driving the vircator and the impedance of the vircator, depending on the A-K gap and amount of emitting material, is also important for maximizing the vircator efficiency. For the experiments reported on, the vircator was driven by a 500 kV/500 J compact Marx generator that can be operated repetitively at 10 Hz. For these experiments, the Marx generator was operating in single shot mode. During the experiments presented here, a couple of geometrical features were varied as well as the applied voltage. Their influence on the radiated field strength, dominating frequency and bandwidth are reported on and discussed.