A Traveling-Wave Tube Simulation Approach With CST Particle Studio

Commercial Ku-band tapered helix traveling-wave tubes (TWTs) and a folded-waveguide ${Q}$ -band TWT are modeled and simulated in CST Particle Studio (PS) on a desktop computer. Efficient models for the electron beam, the severs, and the delay line are investigated to enable accurate and automatable model generation, simulation, as well as pre- and postprocessing. The results of particle-in-cell simulation in CST PS are presented and compared to those of the specialized steady-state simulation codes MVTRAD and KlysTOP, as well as to measurements.