A “crab-like” 12-cavity relativistic magnetron with diffraction output driven by a transparent cathode

Abstract

We present computer simulations of a “crablike” 12 resonator cavity relativistic magnetron with diffraction output (MDO) designed by doubling the number of cavities from our earlier 6 resonator cavity crablike MDO. This work aims to design a compact high-power narrowband microwave source with frequency switching capabilities. UNIPIC particle-in-cell computer simulations show that the crablike 12-cavity MDO with a transparent cathode radiates the TE11 mode with output power 1 GW and electronic efficiency as high as 41% when powered using a 400 kV voltage pulse and 0.41 T magnetic field. Computer simulations also demonstrate that the crablike 12-cavity MDO can radiate different modes, such as the TE21 mode, the TE31 mode, the TE41 mode, and the TE51 mode. The TE21 mode, in particular, can be radiated at three different frequencies, as low as 2.12 GHz, a median operating frequency of 2.4 GHz, and a higher operating frequency of 2.91 GHz, when different magnetic fields are used.