Extension of the Pierce Model to Multiple Transmission Lines Interacting With an Electron Beam

A possible route toward achieving high-power microwave (HPM) devices is through the use of novel slow-wave structures, represented by multiple coupled transmission lines (MTLs), and whose behavior when coupled to electron beams has not been sufficiently explored. We present the extension of the 1-D linearized Pierce theory to MTLs coupled to a single electron beam. We develop multiple formalisms to calculate the k-ω dispersion relation of the system and find that the existence of a growing wave solution is always guaranteed if the electron propagation constant is larger than or equal to the largest propagation constant of the MTL system. We verify our findings with illustrative examples that bring to light unique properties of the system in which growing waves were found to exist within finite bands of the electron propagation constant and also present possible means to improve the gain. By treating the beam-MTL interaction as distributed dependent current generators in the MTL, we derive relations characterizing the power flux and energy exchange between the beam and the MTLs. For the growing wave, we show that the beam always behaves as an energy source causing power flux along the transmission lines. The theory developed in this paper is the basis for the possible use of degenerate band edges in periodic MTL systems for HPM amplifiers.