Preliminary investigation of an improved metal-dielectric cathode for magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator

Journal Article · Sun Feb 15 04:00:00 EST 2015 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4907934· OSTI ID:22392379

Zhang, Xiaoping; Dang, Fangchao; Zhang, Jun; Fan, Yuwei; Li, Zhiqiang ^[1]

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1. College of Optoelectronic Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073 (China)

In order to explore the cathode with good repetition quality for the magnetically insulated transmission line oscillators, an improved metal-dielectric cathode is proposed and investigated experimentally. The cathode is designed to be step-like shape, and thin copper plated boards are periodically and compactly arrayed on the surface of the cathode base, which ensures the uniformity of the electrons emitted from the cusps of the copper plated boards. According to the numerical simulation results, the step-like shape is beneficial to convert the kinetic energy of the magnetic insulating current partially and enhance the beam-wave interaction efficiency. Finally, a preliminary experiment of an L-band magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator (MILO) with the improved metal-dielectric cathode is carried out. A high power microwave (HPM) with an average power of 1.95 GW is generated from the MILO, with an efficiency of 13.5%. Under the same experiment condition, the output power and main frequency with the presented cathode are almost the same to those with the velvet cathode. Apart from that, metal-dielectric cathode has the merits of small outgassing and long lifetime, and all of these make the improved metal-dielectric cathode significantly promising for the MILO repetition operation.

• OSTI ID: 22392379
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments, Journal Name: Review of Scientific Instruments Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 86; ISSN 0034-6748; ISSN RSINAK
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
CATHODES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COPPER
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRON EMISSION
KINETIC ENERGY
MICROWAVE RADIATION
OSCILLATORS
PERIODICITY
POWER TRANSMISSION LINES