Novel source of powerful subnanosecond microwave pulses based on superradiance

Describes a novel source of powerful subnanosecond microwave pulses based on superradiance. This source exploits coherent stimulated emission of intense subnanosecond electron bunches moving through a periodic waveguide and interacting with backward propagating wave. The 300 ps /60 MW microwave Ka band pulses were generated with repetition frequencies of up to 25pps. Observation of RF breakdown of ambient air as well as the illumination of a panel of neon bulbs with a finely structured pattern corresponding to the excitation of the TM₀₁ mode confirms the high level of the absolute power. The experimental results are compare with results of the numerical simulation based on the particle-in-cell (PIC) code KARAT. The simulations show that mechanism of microwave pulse generation is associated with self-bunching and the mutual influence of a different part of the electron pulse due to slippage of the wave with respect to the electrons and thus can be interpreted as superradiance