Analysis and Simulation of a Multigap Sheet Beam Extended Interaction Relativistic Klystron Amplifier

To improve the output power and electron efficiency and broaden the operating bandwidth, the three-gap extended output cavity was used in the relativistic klystron to replace the single-gap output cavity. The high-frequency characteristics of the three-gap extended cavity were studied. The electron load conductance was derived and corrected based on the theory of relativity, by which a more accurate relation of electron load conductance versus transmit angle can be obtained. The characteristic impedance is three times bigger than that of the single-gap cavity under the case of the 2π mode, which can improve the M²(R/Q) and the beam-wave interaction efficiency. The model of sheet beam klystron (SBK) is comprised of three-gap input cavity, two-gap first idler, three-gap second idler cavity, and three-gap output cavity. The 3-D particle-in-cell simulation results show that for a 500 kV, 1 kA, 40.134 GHz, and 20 W input power, the SBK is capable of generating an output power higher than 142 MW with the gain of 68.5 dB, maximum interaction efficiency of 28.4%, and 3-dB bandwidth of 240 MHz.