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In this article, a high-isolation power divider with ultrawideband characteristics for simultaneous operation in two adjacent bands is proposed. The power divider is developed based on a four-port coplanar Magic-T. The difference port of the Magic-T consists of a double-ridge gap waveguide (RGW) that supports quasi-TEM mode transmission, which provides the benefit of its broadband characteristics and allows for facilitated assembly. In addition, an inline microstrip line (MSL) containing a probe is inserted into the opposite side of the difference port to form the sum port. This basic configuration has actually achieved high isolation between the output arms and low return loss at each port, and however, its isolation bandwidth is limited by the narrowband matching of the sum port. To overcome this difficulty, a three-port microstrip T-junction is connected in series to the sum port of the Magic-T, resulting in a five-port 3-dB power divider with a wide isolation bandwidth. The process of considering this solution is analyzed and explained in detail in this article and the corresponding simulations and experimental verifications are performed. According to the obtained results, the proposed power divider has excellent overall performance, in particular low loss, ultrawideband, high isolation, and good amplitude/phase consistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly oversized mode converters are the critical devices for high power millimeter-wave transmission systems, characterizing high power capacity and low loss. In order to improve the conversion efficiency from TE01 to TE11 mode, the mode coupling mechanism of oversized elliptical waveguides is explored, and an optimal ellipticity interval to obtain the high conversion efficiency is deduced by analyzing the mode coupling capacity. Considering that ellipticity can affect the power capacity, breakdown thresholds of different operating modes in elliptical waveguides are studied. Based on the analyses, a synthesis method to design the elliptical mode converter integrating the mode conversion efficiency and the power capacity is proposed. A highly oversized mode converter working in $W$ -band is designed, and the simulation results demonstrate that the mode converter achieves the high conversion efficiency over 95% in a relative bandwidth of 19.6%. In order to validate the design, a prototype of the mode converter is fabricated, and the high purity of outputted TE11 mode is verified by the measurement. The oversized mode converter designed by the proposed synthesis method features high efficiency, broad bandwidth, and high power capacity, enabling its full utilization of the potential of gyrotron traveling-wave tubes (gyro-TWTs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effects of the output window reflection instability on the performance of our designed ${W}$ -band broadband gyrotron traveling wave tube (gyro-TWT) were studied by the simulation and hot test experiments. Strong oscillations and frequency self-modulation (FSM) in the after-cavity interaction (ACI) region were observed in the zero-driven state with a two-layer window and are verified with the beam-wave particle-in-cell simulation. Oscillations and FSM of 80–81.8 GHz and 91.03–94.68 GHz are, respectively, generated from the TE22 and TE02 modes in the ACI region due to the high window reflection level. By using the “sandwich” and meta-surface windows with low reflection and broad bandwidth, the parasitic ACI oscillations can be effectively suppressed. The maximum saturated output power is improved to 156.8 kW at 94 GHz and is zero-driven stable in our recent hot test experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a method to excite the TM11 mode in circular waveguides. The principle of synthesizing a circular TM mode is deduced based on the electric dipole moment theory first, and the output mode and its purity are analyzed theoretically. Then, a mode conversion scheme to convert the rectangular TE10 into circular TM11 mode via a pair of out-of-phase quasi-TEM mode is proposed. In order to achieve the broadband excitation in a compact size, the ridge gap waveguide is used as a medium between the rectangular and cylindrical waveguide. Simulation results present that the proposed exciter has a propagation bandwidth up to 10 GHz in Ka-band with a mode purity over 98%. A prototype is manufactured and measured, and the presence of TM11 mode and the mode purity are confirmed by a port radiation pattern measurement. The mode exciter features high mode purity, broad bandwidth, and a compact size, which provides a low-power generator for the research of novel gyrobackward-wave devices and devices in the high-power transmission line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A broadband dielectric window with high power handling capability for gyrotron traveling wave tubes (gyro-TWTs) had been designed based on the step-type impedance transition structure. The manufactured beryllium oxide (BeO) window can achieve a relative bandwidth of 35.3% with a maximum reflection of −20 dB in the ${X}$ -band, and the corresponding transmission loss is over −0.1 dB. The resonant spikes caused by engineering factors, including assembly tilt and gap, are investigated and analyzed. Thermal analysis shows that the BeO window can achieve a high average/CW power handling capability of over 232 kW within a wide frequency range. The fabricated input window has been successfully applied in our ${X}$ -band broadband and high-power gyro-TWT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter proposes an inline, ultrawideband, and low loss transition from microstrip line (MSL) to ridge gap waveguide (RGW). An efficient conversion between operational mode of RGW and the quasi-TEM mode of MSL is presented by using suspended line patch as a bridge. Furthermore, the effect of loading a capacitive iris on the transition matching performance is studied and a methodology to tune the transition bandwidth is proposed. In order to validate the presented solution, a back-to-back transition prototype is developed and investigated experimentally. The measured results show an insertion and return loss of 0.4 and 15 dB, respectively, over 107% relative bandwidth in the range of 6.2–20.1 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a synthesis method based on phase modulation to design broadband oversized smooth-walled horns for high-power millimeter-wave applications. The bandwidth of oversized smooth-walled horn is confined by the mismatch of the relative phase between TE11 mode and TM11 mode. By analyzing the mode conversion along horn, it is found that the phase of the generated TM11 mode can be influenced by the TE11 mode. Therefore, the synthesis method uses a slow waveguide taper, in which the generated TM11 mode is in a small fraction and its phase is efficiently influenced by TE11 mode, to modulate the relative phase of TE11 mode and TM11 mode. Using the proposed method, an oversized smooth-walled horn is designed, of which the phase mismatch is ±10° in the range of 32–38 GHz. The simulation results show that the proposed horn has a highly symmetric far-field pattern with a peak gain greater than 28 dBi in the range of 32–38 GHz and the sidelobe level has −19 dB decline compared with the peak gain. A prototype is fabricated and the near-field pattern measurement is carried out. The high correspondence of the simulated near-field patterns with the measured ones proves that the proposed method is an appropriate option to design broadband feed horns for high-power millimeter wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, a 20-kW-average-power Ka-band TE01 mode gyro-traveling wave tube (gyro-TWT) with a cut-off waveguide section is presented and verified by hot test experiment for the first time. To improve the average output power, the new type gyro-TWT adds a cut-off waveguide in high frequency beam-wave interaction circuits. The large signal nonlinear theory calculations and particle in cell (PIC) simulations show that the new type gyro-TWT has broadband and high-power output performances. The hot test experiment shows that the measured maximum average power is 20.3 kW at 34 GHz, corresponding to a saturated peak power of 169.2 kW, a saturated gain of 52 dB, an efficiency of ~26.9%, and 3 dB bandwidth of 3.2 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An investigation of the single-frequency iteration method for synthesizing mode converter is taken, and the results show that the synthesized structure has an almost constant perturbation period, which limits the bandwidth of the mode converter. Therefore, a multifrequency iteration method based on variable perturbation periods is proposed to design a broadband oversized TE01-to-TE11 mode converter in this article. To avoid the interference among the perturbation periods corresponding to different frequencies, a weight function is introduced to separate these periods from each other. Using the proposed method, a TE01-to-TE11 mode converter is designed with the conversion efficiency over 95% in the range of 32.5–36.2 GHz (the relative bandwidth of 10.77%). To validate the performance of the proposed mode converter, a prototype is manufactured and measured. In the S-parameters measurement, an average conversion efficiency exceeding 93% and an average ohmic loss near 3% are obtained in the range of 32.3–36.2 GHz. The high purity of circular TE11 mode is demonstrated at the output of the fabricated mode converter according to the measured field patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a novel method to design a 90° oversized TE01-to-TM11 mode converter for high-power transmission line. In order to obtain a full power conversion at 90° bend angle rather than an acute angle, the mode coupling process inside the oversized circular waveguide bend is analyzed, and a phase rematching method is deduced. Based on the analysis results, a phase rematching structure, consisting of two identical circular-to-elliptical transitions and a uniform circular waveguide which can transform the phase difference from $-\pi $ /2 into $\pi $ /2, is introduced. Two mode converters with the input/output radius of 14 mm are designed at the center frequency of 34 GHz to validate the proposed method. The results show that the mode converter with a limited height has a bandwidth of 4.6 GHz, while the mode converter with a limited width has 4.3 GHz with conversion efficiency over 95%. The mode converter with a limited height is manufactured and measured, and the high-purity outputs are validated by the obtained radiation field patterns at the output port of the mode converter from 32 to 36 GHz. The proposed mode converter provides a new approach for developing a compact, high-efficiency, and broadband high-power millimeter-wave transmission line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mode converter is a key component in a gyrotron traveling-wave tube (gyro-TWT) application system, which can transform the output circular TE $_{0n}$ modes (in a gyro-TWT loaded with lossy ceramic dielectric or photonic bandgap interaction structure, the output mode is normally a TE $_{0n}$ mode) into a mode conducive to transmission and emission (linearly polarized Gaussian-like HE11 mode). In particular, the bandwidth of the TE01–TE11 mode converter is the most important challenge in the conversion sequence. In this paper, based on the deformation of the transverse cross section and the modified multi-frequency iteration synthesis technique along the longitudinal propagation axis, a novel method for synthesis of a broad bandwidth mode converter is proposed. Then, an application of the method to a wideband serpentine TE01–TE11 mode converter with an elliptical section is given. This novel mode converter including transitional waveguides achieves a 19.18% relative bandwidth (conversion efficiency over 95%) at center frequency 30.5 GHz, which increases nearly 195% compared with the conventional circular design, and its structure length is 1151.65 mm. Overall, this method offers a novel solution to the requirement of broad bandwidth in the high-power microwave transmission system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, converters of TE $^{\Box }_{{10}}$ –TE $^{\circ }_{{21}}$ mode and TE $^{\Box }_{{10}}$ –TE $^{\circ }_{{01}}$ mode with similar exciting topologic structures are designed and verified for a cold test of gyro-TWT. Both the proposed converters are composed of three sections, including TE $^{\Box }_{{10}}$ to TE $^{\Box }_{{20}}$ mode converter with ridged twist waveguide, TE $^{\Box }_{{20}}$ to TE+22 mode converter with variable cross-shaped waveguide, and the last section TE+22 to TE $^{\circ }_{{21}}$ or TE $^{\circ }_{{01}}$ mode converter ($^{\Box }$ represents the rectangular waveguide, + represents the cross-shaped waveguide, and ° represents the circular waveguide). The mode converters can be designed step-by-step and exhibit excellent wideband performance and high conversion efficiency. Simulation results reveal that the proposed TE $^{\circ }_{{21}}$ mode and TE $^{\circ }_{{01}}$ mode converters have less than 0.04 and 0.03 dB loss over 13.5- and 12-GHz bandwidths, respectively, while the return loss is below −25 dB. Prototype TE $^{\circ }_{{21}}$ and TE $^{\circ }_{{01}}$ mode converters were fabricated and back-to-back millimeter-wave measurements were performed to verify the design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design and experiment of a high power and broadband Ku-band gyrotron traveling-wave tube (gyro-TWT) amplifier operating in the TE11 mode are presented in this paper. A new-type broadband rotating TE11 mode input coupler is applied to excite operating mode and a broadband three-disk beryllium oxide ceramic output window is used in the designed gyro-TWT. In order to suppress the potential oscillations, expand working bandwidth, and improve the heat dissipation capability of high frequency system, a periodic beryllium oxide and silicon carbide composite lossy ceramic rings loaded high-frequency circuit with a nonlinear small change output taper is adopted in the gyro-TWT. When the beam voltage is 70 kV and the beam current is 12 A, the experiment of this Ku-band gyro-TWT developed shows that the measured maximum output average power is ~20 kW at the frequency 16 GHz, corresponding to a maximum output pulse power of ~200 kW (10% duty ratio), a gain of 43.0 dB and a maximum efficiency of 23.8%, −3-dB saturation gain bandwidth of 2.6 GHz (~16.3%), and −1-dB saturation gain bandwidth of 1.5 GHz (~9.4%). Under the condition of 10-W constant input power driven, the measured −3-dB constant driven bandwidth is 1.4 GHz (~8.8%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the design and simulation of a broadband Ka-band gyrotron traveling-wave tube operating in the $\text {TE}^{d}_{\text {02}}$ mode at the fundamental cyclotron harmonic with a fully dielectric-loaded circuit. Through loading loss-free dielectric on the entire circuit, the dispersion properties of the circuit are changed to maintain resonance condition at a wide frequency band. A sliced lossy dielectric-loaded structure is employed to provide the required loss for stable operation. The interaction circuit is analyzed under the field matching theory, the nonlinear self-consistent theory, and particle-in-cell codes. A saturated peak output power of 100 kW is achieved at 29 GHz, corresponding to a saturated gain of 44 dB and an efficiency of more than 15% within a 3-dB saturated bandwidth of 6.1 GHz (20% relative bandwidth). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel compact input and output couplers for broadband operation of sheet beam traveling wave tubes are analyzed, designed, and cold tested. Multistage stepped waveguide and cascaded Bragg resonators are proposed and applied to improve the performance and extend the operating bandwidth. Optimized curve-Bragg resonators are studied to correct the phase between the reflector and $H$ -bend waveguide, which bring about a further enhancement of the coupler behavior. HFSS simulations predict a −3 dB transmission bandwidth about 38% and 34% are achieved, respectively, in Ku and $Q$ band. Besides, the large beam tunnel property of this kind of coupler benefit the beam transport of sheet beam devices. Different components as the input and output couplers for Ku- and $Q$ -band SB-TWT are manufactured and cold tested. Results of vector network analyzer measurement and simulation present an excellent agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]