Millimeter wave vacuum power booster development

Summary form only given. Commercial and military applications require compact, high power amplifiers operating at frequencies from 2-45 GHz. Low-cost, compact Microwave Power Modules (MPM) have been very successful at efficiently delivering over 100 W of power for frequencies up to 18 GHz. The same design concept for the Vacuum Power Booster (VPB) of the MPM is being applied to VPBs operating in the millimeter wave frequency range. These new millimeter wave VPBs will be incorporated into Millimeter Wave Power Modules (MMPM). Extending the MPM technology, MMPMs will meet the emerging requirements for frequency coverage from 18-40 GHz. This paper describes the progress of the current developmental effort on an 18-40 GHz MMPM VPB (helix traveling wave tube), producing over 80 W of power from 18 to 35 GHz and more than 50 W of power at 40 GHz. The current VPB is a complete redesign of the earlier millimeter wave VPB effort which produced a VPB that was capable of 100 W of output power over 18-35 GHz. However, above 35 GHz, the output power declined rapidly. The current work involved a complete re-design of the aforementioned VPB to improve the power performance across the whole Ka band.