This letter optimizes synchronously 18 parameters of a relativistic backward wave oscillator with non-uniform slow wave structure (SWS) and a resonant reflector by using the parallel genetic algorithms and particle-in-cell simulation. The optimization results show that the generation efficiency of microwave from the electron beam has increased 32% compared to that of the original device. After optimization, the electromagnetic mode propagating in the resonant changes from the original TM 020 mode of reflector to higher-order TM 021 mode, which has a high reflection coefficient in a broader frequency range than that of the former. The modulation of current inside the optimized device is much deeper than that in the original one. The product of the electric field and current is defined. Observing this product, it is found that the interaction of the electron beam with the electromagnetic wave in the optimized device is much stronger than that in the original device, and at the rear part of SWS of the optimized device, the electron beam dominantly gives out the energy to the electromagnetic wave, leading to the higher generation efficiency of microwave than that of the original device. V C 2015 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4906896]The relativistic backward wave oscillator (RBWO) is one of the most promising high power microwave devices with the virtues of high power, high efficiency, and high repetition rate. 1-3 To increase the beam-wave interaction efficiency, some techniques are used, such as non-uniform slow wave structure (SWS), resonant reflector, and oversized structure, 4-11 etc. Compared to the conventional RBWOs, the structures of the improved devices are very complicated. For an example, Chen et al. proposed a RBWO with non-uniform SWS and a resonant reflector, which has 18 structural parameters to be adjusted. 8 It is very difficult to adjust tens of the parameters of the structures experimentally and numerically.To tackle with this difficulty, we proposed to optimize the parameters of HPM devices by using parallel genetic algorithms and particle-in-cell simulation (PGA-PIC), 12-14 and optimized the structural parameters of a RBWO. After optimization, the beam-wave interaction efficiency of the device increased significantly.Based on a model of the RBWO with 7-periods uniform SWS and a resonant reflector, Chen et al. analyzed the effect of non-uniform SWS on the RBWO, driven by the diode voltage of 1.02 MV and beam current of 13.2 kA. 8 After adjusting the heights of the front-end 3-periods SWS and keeping the other 4-periods SWS unchanged, the output power increased to 4 GW from 3 GW of that with the uniform SWS, the microwave frequency is 9.7 GHz, and the corresponding beam-wave interaction efficiency of the device increased to 30% from 22%. For convenience of discussion, the device with non-uniform SWS, presented by Chen et al., is termed as "device A" here.To further study the beam-wave interaction efficiency of this kind of device, we use the PGA-PIC method to optimize the 18 str...