Electromagnetic Properties of a Trapezoidally Corrugated Slow Wave Structure for Backward Wave Oscillators

In this paper, the electromagnetic properties of a beam free trapezoidally corrugated slow wave structure (TCSWS) are numerically and experimentally investigated. The dimensions of the TCSWS are selected so that it can be deployed in X-band backward wave oscillators (BWOs). The theoretical dispersion characteristics for the axisymmetric TM₀₁-TM₀₃ modes are obtained by solving the dispersion equation numerically. In order to verify the numerical calculation, a cold test is conducted using a 6-period TCSWS cavity and a vector network analyzer (VNA). The cavity is excited by a small needle-type antenna and frequency of the VNA is swept over the passbands. The dispersion characteristics are obtained from frequency values of the discrete resonant peaks of reflection measurement of each TM mode. Experimental results show an excellent agreement with numerical ones. The numerical and cold test results reveal that TCSWS can be used as an alternative to sinusoidally corrugated slow wave structure in BWO experiments with an advantage of ease of fabrication.