Microwave Tubes

Gopi Chand. Dasari

M.Tech
Generation of Microwave Signals:
 Microwave Tubes – klystron, reflex klystron, magnetron and
TWT.

 Diode semiconductor – Tunnel, Gunn, Impatt, Varactor

diodes, PIN, LSA, Schottky barrier diode.
Microwave Tubes:

 Used for high power/high frequency combination.

 Tubes generate and amplify high levels of microwave power
more cheaply than solid state devices.
 Conventional tubes can be modified for low capacitance but
specialized microwave tubes are also used.
Microwave Tubes:
 Microwave tubes operates at frequencies from 300MHz to
300GHz with output ranges from mW to few hundreds of
Watts.
 The Operating principle of microwave tubes are velocity
modulation concept.
 The velocity modulation concept is used to prevent the
problems caused due to transit time effects which lies in
conventional vacuum tubes.
 A large transit time is effectively utilized to convert the d.c.
power to RF power in microwave tubes.
Introduction:
 In conventional Vacuum Tubes, the modulation of electron
beam can be done by altering the number of electrons.
 Also called Velocity-modulated tubes.
 Here the electron beam is formed by varying the velocity of
electrons due to this bunching of electrons occurs.
 Limitations of Vacuum tubes over semiconductors are to be
discussed.
 Brief discussion of Vacuum tubes and solid state devices
Vacuum tube Vs Solid state devices
 Vacuum tubes are highly linear with out negative feedback.
 Tolerant to high voltage spikes compared to semiconductors.
 Highly independent of temperature which means Biasing
conditions won’t be critical.
 Wider Dynamic Range(high operating voltages)
 Miller effect is predominant i.e. device capacitances vary
with small signal voltages.
 Tubes can be easily replaced by user.
 But bulky and not portable.
Vacuum tube Vs Solid state devices
 High power consumption. Heat sinks and fans are needed.
 Glass tubes are fragile compared to metal transistors.
 High cost compared to transistor equivalents.
 High impedance devices which implies impedance matching
is tough.
 On the other size side transistors less cost and rugged
compared to vacuum tubes, low power consumption, and
less matching circuits are needed.
 But non linear behavior, distortions and device
capacitances(miller effect) and temperature effects are
disadvantages of solid sate devices.
Limitations of Conventional Tubes
 At microwave frequencies above 1GHz, the conventional
tubes are less useful signal sources.
 Effects of inter electrode capacitance.
 Effects due lead inductances
 Effects due to transit time
 Limitations of gain-bandwidth product.
Lead-Inductance and Inter electrode
Capacitance Effects
 At high frequencies 1GHz conventional vacuum tubes are
impaired by parasitic reactances because the circuit
capacitances between tube electrodes and the circuit
inductance of lead wire are too large for a microwave
resonant circuit.
 Output efficiency is reduced by series overload of the input
circuit.
Lead-Inductance and Inter electrode
Capacitance Effects
 Assumption that the inter electrode capacitances and cathode
inductance are only parasitic elements.
 Contd..

Conclusion here is the both real part and imaginary of impedance is

inversely proportional to multiple powers of input frequency. Input
impedance small enough to make signal source short.
 Contd..
Input admittance of pentode circuit

To minimize capacitance and inductance effects reduction in

lead length and electrode area
Lead Inductance Effect
 The lead inductance that appears at the connecting leads of the
vacuum tube elements are the limiting factor at high frequencies.
 Inductance at cathode, inductance at the plate and the inductance
at the grid.
 They form tuned circuit by combining with capacitance which
produce the parasitic oscillations.
 They create an input impedance matching problem due to
increase in inductive reactance.
 Most of the input voltage drops across the inductance and
fractional part appears at the input terminals.
 The effect of lead inductance is minimized by decreasing L, large
sized short leads without base pins and by increasing A.
Transit time effect:
 Transit time causes the phase shift between the plate current and
the grid voltage resulting in reducing of efficiency.
 The electron transit angle is defined as

 If frequency 1MHz, transit time of 1nsec is only 0.001of signal

period. If frequency is increased by 100GHz with same transit
time of 1nsec then the transit time is 100 times time period.
Transit time effect:
 At microwave frequencies the transit time is large compared to the
period of microwave signal, and the potential between the cathode
and grid may be from 10 to 100 times during electron transit.
 The grid potential during the negative half cycle thus removes
energy that was given in the positive half cycle.
 The electrons may oscillate back and forth in some cases they
return to cathode. The overall efficiency reduced in the vacuum
tubes.
 At microwave frequencies the transit angle is not negligible, and
the transadmittance becomes a complex number with a relatively
small magnitude. This situation indicates that the output is
decreased.
 the transit-angle effect can be minimized by first accelerating the
electron beam with a very high de voltage and then velocity-
modulating it.
Gain-Bandwidth product Limitation:
 In vacuum tubes the maximum gain is generally achieved by
resonating the output circuit.
Gain-Bandwidth product Limitation:
 Maximum voltage gain at resonance

 Bandwidth is measured at half power point

Contd…
 The gain bandwidth product of the circuit is

 The gain-bandwidth product is in general independent of

frequency.
 High gain is achieved by the expense of narrowing the
bandwidth(applicable to resonant circuits only).
 In microwave either reentrant cavities or slow wave
structures are used to obtain possible high gain over broad
bandwidth.
MICROWAVE TUBES:
 The microwave tubes are generally classified into linear beam
tubes(O-type) and crossed field tubes(M-type).
 In linear beam tubes, the electron beam is parallel to both
electric and magnetic fields.
 In a linear beam tube a magnetic field whose axis coincides
with that of the electron beam is used to hold the beam
together as it travels the length of the tube.
 In crossed-field tubes, the electron beam is perpendicular to
both electric and magnetic fields.
Reentrant Cavities:
 The re-entrant cavities(also known as irregular shaped resonators)
are used in place of tuned circuits at microwave frequencies.
 Below the microwave frequencies, the cavity resonator can be
represented by lumped-constant resonant circuit.
 In order to maintain resonance at high operating frequency, the
values of inductance and capacitance are decreased to a minimum
by using a short wire.
 The other advantage of reentrant cavity is ease of coupling and
recollecting of the signal from these devices.
 The metallic boundaries are extended into interior of the cavity.
 RE-Entrant Cavities:
 The most commonly used re-entrant cavities is the co-axial
cavity.

(a) Coaxial cavity (b) Radial Cavity (c)Tunable Cavity (d) Toroidal Cavity
(e) Butter Fly Cavity
Reentrant Cavities:
 In the coaxial cavity, the inductance as well as the resistance
losses is reduced, and the radiation losses are also prevented
shelf-shielding enclosures.
 Using transmission line theory approximation the
characteristic impedance of the co-axial line is given by
Reentrant Cavities
 The characteristic impedance of the coaxial line is given by

 When two coaxial lines are shorted at both the ends and are
joined at the centre by a capacitor, then a structure formed
which is similar to a co-axial cavity. For each shorted coaxial
line the input impedance is given as
Reentrant Cavities
 The inductance of the cavity is given by

 And the capacitance of the gap is given by

 When the circuit is in resonance, the inductive reactance of

the two short circuited coaxial lines which is in series has
same magnitude to that of capacitive reactance of the gap
Reentrant Cavities
 The solution for above equation gives the resonant frequency
of a coaxial cavity.
 Since the equation contains “tan” term, it has infinite number
of solutions with large number of frequencies. therefore
these type of reentrant cavity can support an infinite number
of resonant frequencies.
 The balance of the electric stored energy appears in the gap,
for at resonance the magnetic and electric stored energies are
equal.
Radial Reentrant cavities:
 The radial reentrant cavity is another commonly used
reentrant cavity resonator.
 The inductance and capacitance of the reentrant cavity is
expressed by
Linear Beam Tubes(O TYPE)
Klystrons:
KLYSTRONS:
 The Two cavity Klystron is widely used microwave amplifier
operated by the principle of velocity and current modulation.
 All electrons injected from cathode arrive at first cavity with
uniform velocity and these electrons passes the gap of the first
cavity when zero signal voltages.
 Positive half cycles of gap voltage undergo increase in velocity and
negative half cycles of gap voltage undergo decrease in velocity.
 Due to this electron bunching occurs during their travel in drift
space. The variation of electron velocity in drift space is known as
velocity modulation.
 The density of electrons in the second cavity gap varies cyclically
with time. The electron beam contains a.c. component and is
called current modulation.
KLYSTRONS:
 The maximum bunching should occur in the mid way
between the second cavity grids during retarding phase.
 Kinetic energy is transferred from electrons to the field of
the second cavity.
 The electrons emerge from second cavity with retarded
velocity finally terminate at collector.
 Characteristics of two cavity klystron amplifier
efficiency:40%
power output : average power (CW power) is up to 500KW
and pulsed power is up to 30MW at 10GHz
power gain: about 30dB
KLYSTRONS:
 The cavity close to the cathode is known as buncher cavity or
input cavity, which velocity modulates the electron beam.
 The other cavity is called catcher cavity or output cavity. It
catches energy from the bunched electron beam.
 Assumptions made in analysis of two cavity klystron:
1. the electron beam is assumed to have a uniform density in
the cross section of the beam.
2. Space charge effects are negligible.
3. The magnitude of the microwave signal input is assumed to
be much smaller than the dc accelerating voltage.
Velocity Modulation Process:
 When electrons are accelerated by high DC voltage V0 before
entering the buncher grids, their velocity is uniform

 When a microwave signal is applied to the input terminal,

the gap voltage between the buncher grids appears as

 The modulated velocity in the buncher cavity in terms of

either entering time t0 and exiting time t1 and the gap transit
angle θg is shown in previous figure.
Velocity Modulation Process:
 The average transit time through the buncher gap distance d
is

Figure: Signal voltage in the buncher gap

 Velocity Modulation Process:
 The average gap transit angle can be expressed as

 The average microwave voltage in the buncher gap is found

by

Let and
Velocity Modulation Process:
 From the trigonometric identity [Cos(A-B) – Cos(A+B)] =
2 Sin A Sin B

It is defined as beam coupling coefficient at the input

cavity gap βi

 By increasing the transit angle θg decreases the coupling

between the electron beam and the buncher cavity i.e., the
velocity modulation of given microwave signal decreased
Velocity Modulation Process:
 After the velocity modulation, the exit velocity from the
buncher gap is given by

Eqn(1)
Velocity Modulation Process:
 We know that

 The alternate equation of velocity modulation is given by

Eqn(2)
Velocity Modulation Process:
 Figure shows the beam coupling coefficient Vs gap transit
angle
Additive Automatic Klystron(AAK)
device
 It works on the principle of automobile’s property of voltage
magnification. Based on Einstein’s principle of random motion.
 The magnetic field together with electric field bypasses the voltage
generation(i.e. in the form of potential energy) and automatic
amplification occurs in current.
F(in dB) = O+*O-*l
F denotes the force on electron
O+ is the orbital motion of electron in clock wise direction
O- is the orbital motion of electron in anti clock wise direction.
l is the length of atom in axial direction.
Applications of Klystrons:
klystrons are used in picture tubes since the vacuum tube technology
exist in it.
Same principle used in refrigerators, space technology for amplification
purpose.
Bunching Process:
 The velocity of electrons leaving the buncher cavity is
specified in eqn1&2. the electrons drift in the field-free space
between the two cavities.
 The effect of velocity modulation produces bunching of
electron beam or current modulation.
 The electrons that pass the buncher cavity at Vs = 0 travel
through with unchanged velocity V0 and become the
bunching center, those electrons that pass the buncher cavity
during the positive cycles of microwave input signal Vs travel
faster than the electrons that pass the gap Vs=0 and the
electrons that pass the buncher cavity during negative cycles
travels slower than electrons that pass the gap at Vs=0.
Bunching Process:
 At a distance of ΔL along the beam from the buncher cavity,
the beam electrons have drifted into dense clusters.

 Figure shows the trajectories of minimum, zero, maximum

electron accelaration
Bunching Process:
 The distance from the buncher grid to the location of dense
electron bunching for the electron at tb is
Eqn (3)
 Similarly, the distances for the electrons at ta and tc are

Eqn (4)

Eqn (5)

 The minimum and maximum velocities are

Eqn (6) Eqn (7)

Bunching Process:
 Substitute eqn(6) in eqn(4) and eqn(7) in eqn(5)

Eqn (8)

Eqn (9)

 The necessary condition for those electrons at ta, tb, and tc to

meet at the same distance ΔL is

Eqn (10)
Bunching process
 And

Eqn (11)

 Consequently
Eqn (12)

Eqn (13)

 Make a note that the distance in above equation is not the one
for maximum bunching
Bunching Process:
 The figure shows the distance – time plot or applegate
diagram
Bunching Process:
 Since the drift region is field free, the transit time for an
electron to travel a distance of L is given by

Eqn (14)

T0 = L/V0 is the dc transit time

Eqn (15)

 Where Eqn (16)

is the dc transit angle between cavities, N is the number of

electron transit cycles in the drift space, and
Bunching Process:
 And X is defined as the bunching parameter of a klystron.
Eqn (17)
 At the bunching gap a charge dQ0 passing through a time
interval dt0 is given by Eqn (18)
 Where I0 is the dc current. From the principle of
conservation of charges this same amount of charge dQ0 also
passes the catcher at a later time interval dt2
Eqn (19)
 current i2 is the current at the catcher gap.

Eqn (20)
Bunching Process:
 Alternatively

Eqn (21)

 Where ( ωt0 + θg/2 ) is the buncher cavity departure angle

and ωt2 – ( θ0 + θg/2) is the catcher cavity arrival angle.
 Differentiation of eqn(20) w.r.t t0 results in

Eqn (22)

 The current arriving at the catcher cavity is then given as

Eqn (23)
Bunching Process:
 Figure shows catcher arrival angle versus buncher departure
angle
Bunching Process:
 Figure shows beam current i2(t2) as a function of catcher
arrival angle in terms of bunching parameter X.
Bunching Process:
 In terms of t2 the current is

Eqn (24)

 The relationship of t2 = t0 + τ + T0 is used and = ωt0 + ωτ

+ ωT0 = ωt0 + θg + θ0 .
 The beam current at the catcher cavity is a periodic
waveform of period 2π/ω about dc current. Therefore the
current i2 can be expanded in a fourier series

Eqn (25)

Where n is integer excluding zero

Bunching Process:
 The series coefficients a0, an, bn are given by integrals

Eqn (26)

Eqn (27)

Eqn (28)
Bunching Process:
 Using trigonometric functions

Eqn (29)

Eqn (30)
 Bunching Process:
 If the above series are substituted into the integrands of
equations (27) and (28), the integrals are evaluated term by
term and the series coefficients are

Eqn (31)

where Jn(nX) is the nth order

Bessel function of first kind
Bunching Process:
 The beam current i2(t) as

Eqn (32)

 The fundamental component of beam current at the catcher

cavity has a magnitude Eqn (33)
 The fundamental component If has its maximum amplitude at
X = 1.841 Eqn (34)
 The optimum distance L at which the maximum fundamental
component of current occurs is computed from Eqns
16,17,34.

Eqn (35)
Bunching Process:
 Note that the distance given in eqn(13) is approximately 15%
less than distance in eqn(35).
 The discrepancy is due to approximations considered as
specified and to the fact that the maximum fundamental
component of current will not coincide with the maximum
electron beam density along the beam because the harmonic
components exist in the beam.
Output Power and Beam Loading:
 The maximum bunching should occur approximately midway
between the catcher grids.
 The phase of the catcher gap voltage must be maintained in
such a way that the bunched electrons, as they pass through
the grids, encounter a retarding phase.
 When the bunched electron beam passes through the
retarding phase, its kinetic energy is transferred to the field
of the catcher cavity.
 When the electrons emerge from the grids, they have
reduced velocity and are finally collected by the collector.
The induced current in the catcher cavity:
 The current induced by the electron beam in the walls of the
catcher cavity is directly proportional to the amplitude of the
microwave input voltage V1 , the fundamental component of
the induced microwave current in the catcher is given by

 Where β0 is the beam coupling coefficient of the catcher

gap. If the buncher and catcher cavities are identical, then
βi = β0 . The fundamental component of the current induced
in the catcher cavity then has the magnitude
Contd..
 Figure shows the output equivalent circuit
Rsho - the wall resistance of the catcher cavity.
RB - the beam loading resistance
RL - the external load resistance
Rsh - the effective shunt resistance

Figure: Output equivalent circuit

Contd..
 The output power delivered to the catcher cavity and load is

 where Rsh is the total equivalent shunt resistance of the

catcher circuit, including the load and V2 is the fundamental
component of catcher gap voltage.
Efficiency of Klystron
 The electronic efficiency of klystron is defined as the ratio of
output power to input power.

In which the power losses to the beam loading and cavity

walls are included.
 If the coupling is perfect, β0 = 1, the maximum beam
current approaches I2max = 2I0(0.582) and the voltage V2 is
equal to the V0. The maximum electronic efficiency is about
58%.
 In practice, the electronic efficiency of a klystron amplifier is
in the range of 15 to 30%.
Efficiency of Klystron:
 The efficiency is a function of catcher gap transit angle θg
Figure shows maximum efficiency of an klystron as a function
of catcher gap transit angle.
Mutual conductance of klystron:
 The equivalent mutual conductance of klystron amplifier can
be defined as the ratio of induced output current to the input
voltage.

 The input voltage V1 can be expressed in terms of bunching

parameter X

 It is assumed that β0 = βi therefore the normalized

conductance is

D.C. conductance of the beam

Mutual conductance of klystron:
 The mutual conductance is not constant but decreases as
bunching parameter X increases.
 Mutual conductance of klystron:
 It can be seen from the curves that for a signal, the normalized
transconductance is maximum.

 For maximum output X=1.841, the normalized mutual

conductance is

 The voltage gain of klystron amplifier is defined as

d.c. beam resistance

Multi-cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 The typical power gain of two cavity klystron amplifier is
about 30dB. In order to achieve higher overall gain, one way
is to connect several two cavity tubes in cascade, feeding the
output of each of the tubes to the input of next one.
 Extra cavities help to modulate the electron beam’s velocity
and increase the output energy. Hence intermediate cavities
are added between input and output cavities of a klystron
amplifier.
 A four cavity klystron with 4 cavities, power gains of around
50dB can easily achieved. Since each intermediate cavity
increases the power gain by 15 to 20dB.
Multi cavity Klystron Amplifier:
Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 The intermediate cavities are kept at a distance of the
bunching parameter X of 1.8141, away from the previous
cavity, which acts as buncher cavities.
 These buncher cavities pass the electron beam and induce a
higher RF voltage than the previous cavity. Due to this
velocity modulation increases. This increasing beam voltage
V0 could be used in subsequent cavities. Therefore more
output power can be achieved at the output cavity.
 The output power delivered to the load in a two cavity
Klystron amplifier is given by
Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 When two cavity klystrons are discussed we assumed that
mutual repulsion of electrons are negligible i.e., space charge
effect is neglected. And it holds good since a small density of
electrons in the beam for low power amplifiers.
 But in high power Klystron tubes the electron density is large
and forces of mutual repulsion of electrons must be
considered.
 When electrons perturbate in the electron beam, the
electron density consists of dc part plus RF perturbation
caused by electron bunches.
 The space charge forces with in the electron bunches vary
with size and shape of electron beam.
Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 In an infinitely wide beam the electric fields are constrained
to act only in axial direction.
 In a finite beam the electric fields are radial as well as axial
with the result that the axial component is reduced in
comparison to the infinite beam.
 With the reduced axial space charge force, the plasma
frequency is reduced and plasma wavelength is increased.
 Let the charge density and velocity perturbations be
sinusoidal variations both in time and position. They are
Charge density
Velocity perturbation
Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 From the above equations
Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 The electron plasma frequency is the frequency at which the
electrons oscillate in the electron beam. This plasma
frequency applies to a beam of infinite diameter.
 But practical beam of finite diameter are characterized by
plasma frequency less than ωp . This lower plasma frequency
is called reduced plasma frequency and designated by ωq .
 The space charge reduction factor R is a function of beam
radius and ratio n of the beam tunnel radius to the beam
radius.
Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 The total charge density and electron velocity are given by

 The total electron beam current density can be written as

Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 The instantaneous convection beam current density at any
point in the beam is expressed as

 By using law of conservation of charge , the continuity

equation is written as
Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 We know that

Since
Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 The beam current density and modulated velocity is
expressed as

 In practical microwave tubes the ratio ωq /ω is much

smaller than unity therefore second term is neglected in the
above equation.
Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 The electrons leaving the input gap of klystron amplifier have
a velocity given at the exit grid by

 Since the electrons under the influence of space charge forces

exhibit simple harmonic motion, the velocity at the later
time t is given by
Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 Where ωp = plasma frequency, the current density equation
is given by
 Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 If the two cavities of a two-cavity klystron amplifier are
assumed to be identical and are placed at a point where RF
convention current at the output cavity for a two cavity
Klystron

 Where V1 = magnitude of input signal voltage. Then the

magnitudes of induced current and voltage in the output cavity
is equal to
Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 where β0 = βi is the beam coupling coefficient
Rshl = total shunt resistance of the output cavity in the two-
cavity klystron amplifier including the external load.
 The output power delivered to the load in a two- cavity
Klystron amplifier is given by

 The power gain of a two-cavity klystron amplifier is

expressed by

Where Rsh = total shunt resistance of the input cavity

 Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 The electronic efficiency of the two cavity Klystron amplifier is

 Multi cavity Klystrons with seven cavities are commercially

available, most frequently used one is four.
 The four cavities are assumed to be identical and they have same
unloaded Q and beam coupling coefficient βi = β0. The
intermediate are not externally loaded, but the input and
output cavities are matched to their transmission lines.
 If V1 is the magnitude of the input cavity gap voltage, the
magnitude of RF convection current density injected into the
first intermediate cavity.
Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 This gap voltage of first intermediate cavity produces a
velocity modulation on the beam in the second intermediate
cavity.
 The RF convection current in the second intermediate cavity
can be written as |V1 | replaced by |V2|

 The output voltage of the second intermediate cavity is then

given by
Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 This voltage produces a velocity modulation again and is
converted into an RF convection current at the output cavity
for four-cavity Klystron

 The output voltage is

The output power from the output cavity in a four cavity

Klystron amplifier
Multi- cavity Klystron Amplifiers:
 Where Rshl = total shunt resistance of the output cavity
including the external load
 The multi-cavity klystrons are often operated with their
cavities stagger tuned so as to obtain a greater bandwidth at
some reduction in gain.
 Reflex Klystrons:
 If the fraction of output power is fed back to the input cavity and if
the loop gain has a magnitude of unity with a phase shift of multiple
2π, the klystron oscillate.
 The reflex klystron has been the most used source of microwave
power in laboratory applications.
 A reflex klystron consists of an electron gun, a cavity with a pair of
grids and a repeller plate as shown in the following diagram.
 In this klystron, a single pair of grids does the functions of both the
buncher and the catcher grids.
 The main difference between two cavity reflex klystron amplifier
and reflex klystron is that the output cavity is omitted in reflex
klystron and the repeller or reflector electrode, placed a very short
distance from the single cavity, replaces the collector electrode.
Reflex Klystrons:
 diagram
 Working:
 The cathode emits electrons which are accelerated forward by an
accelerating grid with a positive voltage on it and focused into a
narrow beam.
 The electrons pass through the cavity and undergo velocity
modulation, which produces electron bunching and the beam is
repelled back by a repeller plate kept at a negative potential with
respect to the cathode.
 On return, the electron beam once again enters the same grids which
act as a buncher, therby the same pair of grids acts simultaneously as a
buncher for the forward moving electron and as a catcher for the
returning beam
Working:
 The feedback necessary for electrical oscillations is developed by
reflecting the electron beam, the velocity modulated electron beam
does not actually reach the repeller plate, but is repelled back by the
negative voltage.
 The point at which the electron beam is turned back can be varied by
adjusting the repeller voltage.
 Thus the repeller voltage is so adjusted that complete bunching of the
electrons takes place at the catcher grids, the distance between the
repeller and the cavity is chosen such that the repeller electron
bunches will reach the cavity at proper time to be in synchronization.
 Due to this, they deliver energy to the cavity, the result is the
oscillation at the cavity producing RF frequency
Apple gate diagram:
 Apple gate diagram with gap voltage for a reflex klystron
 Velocity modulation:
 The analysis of reflex klystron is similar to the two cavity klystron
amplifier. The space charge effect on electron motion is
neglected. The electron entering the cavity gap from the cathode
at Z=0 and time t0 is assumed to have uniform velocity.

 The same electron leave the gap at Z=d and time t1 with velocity

The retarding electric field is assumed to be constant in the z-direction.

The force equation for one electron in repeller region is
 Velocity modulation:
 The force equation Used in z direction only

Integration on both sides

 Velocity modulation:
 at t = t1 and Z = d = K2 then

on the assumption that electron leaves the electron leaves the cavity gap at Z
= d and time t1 with velocity v(t1) and returns to the gap at Z = d and time t2
Velocity modulation:
 where Is the round trip dc transit time of the
center of the bunch of the electron
Power output and efficiency:
 In order for the electron beam to generate a maximum amount of
energy to the oscillation, the returning electron beam must cross the
cavity gap when the gap field is maximum retarding
 A maximum amount of kinetic energy can be transferred from the
returning electrons to the cavity walls.
 For maximum energy transfer, the round trip transit angle, referring
to the center of the bunch
Power output and efficiency:
 The current modulation of the electron beam as it reenters the cavity
from the repeller region can determined in similar way as two cavity
klystron amplifier.
 The bunching parameter XI of the reflex klystron oscillator has a
negative sign w.r.t bunching parameter X of two cavity klystron
amplifier.
 The beam current injected into the cavity gap from the repeller region
flows in negative Z direction.

 The fundamental component of current induced in the cavity by

modulated electron beam
Power output and efficiency:
 In which θg has neglected as compared to the θ0i . the magnitude of
fundamental component is
Power output and efficiency:
 The electronic efficiency of reflex klystron is defined as

 In the factor X!J1(X!) reaches the maximum value 1.25 at X!= 2.408
and J1(X!) = 0.52. in practice the mode n=2 has the most power
output
 Power output and efficiency:
 Figure X!J1(X!) versus X!
Power output and efficiency:
 For a given beam voltage V0 the relationship between the repeller
voltage and cycle number n required for oscillations is found

 For a given beam voltage and cycle number n or mode number N,

the center repeller voltage can be determined in terms of central
frquency
 The output power can be expressed in terms of repeller voltage Vr
Power output and efficiency:
 When the frequency varies from center frequency and the repeller
voltage about the center voltage, the power output is varied
accordingly assuming a bell shape.
Electronic Admittance:
 The induced current in phasor form as
 The voltage across the gap at time t2 can also be in phasor form

 The ratio of i2 to V2 is defined as electronic admittance of reflex

klystron

 The amplitude of the phasor admittance indicates that the electronic

admittance is a function of dc beam admittance, the dc transit angle
and the second transit of electron beam through the cavity gap.
 The electronic admittance is non linear and is proportional to
is proportional to the signal voltage
Contd..
 Reflex klystron saturation factor
Contd..
 The equivalent circuit of reflex klystron is shown below. In this circuit
the L and C are energy storage elements in the cavity and Gc copper
losses of the cavity, Gb the beam loading conductance Gl the load
conductance.
 The necessary condition for oscillations is the magnitude of the
negative real part of admittance not be less than the total conductance
of the cavity circuit.
Contd..
 The electronic admittance in rectangular form
 The electronic admittance is in electronic form, its phase is π/2 when
θ0I is zero.
 The rectangular plot of electronic admittance Ye is spiral. Any value of
θ0I for which the spiral lies in the area to the left of the line
will yield oscillation.
 Contd..
 Electronic admittance spiral for reflex klystron
TRAVELING WAVE TUBE:

 Traveling Wave Tube (TWT) is the most versatile microwave RF

power amplifiers.
 The main virtue of the TWT is its extremely wide band width of
operation.
Basic Structure of TWT:
 Travelling Wave Tube
 Basic Structure:
 The basic structure of a TWT consists of a cathode and filament
heater plus an anode that is biased positively to accelerate the
electron beam forward and to focus it into a narrow beam.
 The electrons are attracted by a positive plate called the collector,
which has given a high dc voltage.
 The length of the tube is usually many wavelengths at the operating
frequency.
 Surrounding the tube are either permanent magnets or electro-
magnets that keep the electrons tightly focused into a narrow beam.
Features:
 The unique feature of the TWT is a helix or coil that surrounds the
length of the tube and the electron beam passes through the centre or
axis of the helix.
 The microwave signal to be amplified is applied to the end of the helix
near the cathode and the output is taken from the end of the helix
near the collector.
 The purpose of the helix is to provide path for RF signal.
 The propagation of the RF signal along the helix is made
approximately equal to the velocity of the electron beam from the
cathode to the collector.
Functioning:
 The passage of the microwave signal down the helix produces
electric and magnetic fields that will interact with the electron
beam.
 The electromagnetic field produced by the helix causes the
electrons to be speeded up and slowed down, this produces
velocity modulation of the beam which produces density
modulation.
 Density modulation causes bunches of electrons to group
together one wavelength apart and these bunch of electrons
travel down the length of the tube toward the collector.
Functioning:
 The electron bunches induce voltages into the helix
which reinforce the voltage already present there.Due to
that the strength of the electromagnetic field on the helix
increases as the wave travels down thetube towards the
collector.
 At the end of the helix, the signal is considerably
amplified. Coaxial cable or waveguide structures are
used to extract the energy from the helix.
Advantages:
 TWT has extremely wide bandwidth. Hence, it can be
made to amplify signals from UHF to hundreds of
gigahertz.
 Most of the TWT’s have a frequency range of
approximately 2:1 in the desired segment of the
microwave region to be amplified.
 The TWT’s can be used in both continuous and pulsed
modes of operation with power levels up to several
thousands watts.
Performance Charecteristics:
 Frequency of operation : 0.5 GHz – 95 GHz
 Power outputs: 5 mW (10 – 40 GHz – low power
TWT) 250 kW (CW) at 3 GHz (high power TWT) 10
MW (pulsed) at 3 GHz
 Efficiency : 5 – 20 % ( 30 % with depressed collector)
Klystron Vs TWT’s
 The microwave circuit in TWT is non resonant and the wave
propagates with the same speed as the electron beam.
 The interaction of electron beam and RF field in the TWT is
continuous over the entire length of the circuit, but the interaction in
the klystron occurs only at the gaps of a few resonant cavities.
 The wave in the TWT is a propagating wave; the wave in the klystron
is not.
 In the coupled-cavity TWT there is a coupling effect between the
cavities, whereas each cavity in the klystron operates independently
TWT’s:
 A helix travelling wave tube consists of electron beam and a slow wave
structure. The electron beam is focused by a constant magnetic field along
the electron beam and slow wave structure. This is termed as O-type
travelling wave tube.
 The applied signal propagates around the turns of the helix and produces an
electric field at the center of helix and directed along the helix axis.
 The axial electric field progresses with a velocity that is very close to the
velocity of light multiplied by the ratio of helix pitch to helix
circumference.
 When the electrons enter the helix tube, an interaction takes place between
the moving axial electric field and the moving electrons. On the average, the
electrons transfer energy to the wave on the helix. This interaction causes
the signal wave on the helix to become larger.
Contd…
 The electrons entering the helix at zero field are not affected by the
signal wave; those electrons entering the helix at the accelerating field
are accelerated, and those at the retarding field are decelerated.
 As the electrons travel further along the helix, they bunch at the
collector end. The bunching shifts the phase by π/2. Each electron in the
bunch encounters a stronger retarding field.
 Then the microwave energy of the electrons is delivered by the
electron bunch to the wave on the helix. The amplification of the
signal wave is accomplished.
Slow wave Structures:
 As the operating frequency is increased, both inductance and
capacitance of the resonant circuit must be decreased in order to
maintain resonance at the operating frequency.
 Since the gain bandwidth product is limited by resonant circuit, the
ordinary resonator cannot generate a large output.
 Several non resonant periodic circuits or slow wave circuits are
designed for producing large gain over a wide bandwidth.
Slow wave Structures:
 Slow wave structures are special circuits that are used in microwave
tubes to reduce the wave velocity in a certain direction so that the
electron beam and the signal wave interact.
 The phase velocity of a wave in ordinary waveguides is greater than
velocity of light in vacuum.
 In magnetrons, TWT’s, the electron beam must be with the
microwave signal.
 The electron beam must be accelerated only to velocities about
fraction of velocity of light, a slow wave structure is placed in
microwave device so that the phase velocities of microwave signal is in
pace with electron beam for effective interactions.
Slow wave Structures:
 The commonly used slow wave structure is a helical coil with a
concentric conducting cylinder.
 The ratio of phase velocity Vp along the pitch to the phase velocity
along the coil
Slow wave Structures:

 The helical coil may be with in a dielectric filled cylinder. The phase
velocity in the axial direction is expressed as

 If the dielectric constant is too large, the slow wave structure may
introduce considerable losses, there by reducing efficiency
Slow wave Structures:
 Figure shows ω – β (or Brillouin) diagram for a helical slow wave
structure
Slow wave Structures:
 For the circuit to be a slow wave structure, it must be the property of
periodicity in the axial direction.
 In the helical slow wave structure a translation back or forth through a
distance of one pitch length identically same structure again. Thus the
period of slow wave structure is its pitch.
 Floquet’s periodicity theorem(the field of the slow wave structure
must be distributed according to periodic boundaries)
 “ the steady state solutions for the electro magnetic fields of a single
propagating mode in a periodic structure have the property that fields
in the adjacent cells are related by a complex constant.”
Slow wave Structure:
 Where E(x,y,z) is a periodic function of z with period L. β0 is phase
constant of average electron velocity in slow wave structure.

 Where f(x,y,z) is a periodic function of z with period L that is the

period of slow wave structure.
 For periodic structure z is replaced with z- L
Slow wave Structure:
 From the theory of fourier series, any function is periodic, single-
valued, finite, and continuous may be represented by a fourier series
Field distribution function E(x,y,z) may be expanded into fourier series of
fundamental period L as

Are the amplitudes of n harmonics

Is the phase constant of the nth modes where

n= - ,-2,-1,0,1,2,3…
Slow wave Structure:

 From the preceding equation it is evident that if each spatial harmonic

is itself solution of wave equation for each value of n
 the field in a periodic structure can be expanded as an infinite series of
waves, all at the same frequency but with different phase velocities Vpn
Slow wave structure:
 It is important note that phase velocity Vpn in the axial direction
decreases for higher values of n and β0

the ω – β diagram for a helix with several spatial harmonics

Slow wave Structure:
 The second quadrant of ω – β indicates the negative phase velocity that
corresponds to negative n. the electron beam moves in positive z
direction while beam velocity coincides with the negative spatial
harmonics of phase velocity. This type of tube is called Backward wave
oscillator.
 The shaded areas are the forbidden regions for propagation. This
situation occurs because if the axial phase velocity of any spatial
harmonics exceeds the velocity of light, the structure radiates the
energy
Amplification Process:
 The slow-wave structure of the helix is characterized by brillouin
diagram. The phase shift per period of the fundamental wave on
structure is given by
 Where β0 = ω/v0 is the phase constant of the average beam velocity
and L is the period or pitch.
 Since the dc transit time of an electron is given by
 The phase constant of the nth space harmonic

 The axial space harmonic phase velocity is assumed to be synchronised

with the beam velocity for possible interactions between electron
beam and electric field
Amplification Process:
 In practice, the dc velocity of electrons is adjusted to be slightly
greater than the axial velocity of the electromagnetic wave for energy
transfer
 When a signal voltage is coupled into the helix, the axial electric field
exerts a force on electrons as a result of the following relationships

 The electrons entering the retarding field are decelerated and those in
accelerating field are accelerated. They begin forming a bunch
centered about those electrons that enter the helix during the zero
field
Amplification Process:
 Schematic diagram of helix travelling wave tube
Amplification Process:
 Simplified circuit

 The dc velocity of the electrons is slightly greater than the axial wave
velocity, more electrons are in retarding field than in the accelerating
field and a great amount of energy is transferred from the beam to the
electromagnetic field.
Amplification Process:
 The microwave signal voltage is amplified by amplified field. The
bunch continues to become more compact and a large amplification
occurs at the end of helix.
 The magnet produces an axial magnetic field to prevent the spreading
of the electron beam as it travels down the tube. An attenuator placed
near the center of helix reduces all the waves travelling along the helix
to nearly zero so that the reflected waves from the mismatched loads
can be prevented from reaching the input and causing the oscillation.
 The bunched electrons emerging from the attenuator induce a new
electric field with the same frequency. This field in turn induces a new
amplified microwave signal on the helix.
Amplification Process:
 The motion of electrons in the helix travelling wave tube can be
quantitatively analyzed in terms of the axial electric field. If the
travelling wave is propagating in the z direction, the z component of
the electric field is expressed as
 where E1 is the magnitude of the electric field in the z direction. If
t=t0 at z=0, the electric field is assumed maximum. Note that βp =
ω/vp is the axial phase constant of the microwave and vp is the axial
phase velocity of the wave.
 The equation of motion of electron is given by

Assume the velocity of electron is

Amplification Process:
 From the equation

 For interactions between the electrons and the electric field, the
velocity of the velocity modulated electron beam must be
approximately equal to dc electron velocity.
Amplification Process:
 Hence the distance z travelled by the electrons is

It can be seen that the magnitude of velocity fluctuation of the electron

beam is directly proportional to the magnitude of axial electric field
Convection Current:
 To determine the relationship between the circuit and electron beam
quantities, the convection current induced in the electron beam by the
axial electric field and the microwave axial field produced by the beam
must be developed.
 When space charge effect is considered the electron velocity, the
charge density, the current density, and the axial electric field will
perturbate about their dc or average values. Mathematically these
quantities are expressed as

Where γ is the propagation constant

of axial waves
Convection Current:
 The minus sign is attached to J0 so that J0 may be a positive in the
negative z direction. For a small signal, the electron beam current
density can be written as
 Where

 If the axial electric field exists in the structure, it will perturbate the
electron velocity according to the force equation

Where dz/dt is replaced by v0

Convection Current:
 From the law of conservation of charge, the continuity equation can
be written as

 Where has been replaced.

Convection Current:
 If the magnitude of the axial electric field is uniform in the cross
sectional area of the electron beam, the spatial ac current i will be
proportional to the dc current I0 with the same proportionality
constant for J1 and J0. therefore the convection current of electron
beam is given by

 Where βe = ω / v0 is defined as phase constant of velocity

modulated electron beam. And
 The above equation is called electronic equation, it determines the
convection current induced by the axial electric field.