High Frequency Limitation of Conventional

Tubes:
Lead inductance and inter-electrode capacitance effect:

At microwave frequencies the parasitic reactance of the lead

inductances and inter-electrode capacitances become very large
compared to the microwave resonant circuits.
This problem can be overcome by reducing the length and area of the
leads. However such attempt, in turn, minimizes the power handling
capability of the tubes.
Furthermore, at microwave frequencies the input conductance of the
tube overloads the input circuit and thereby reduces the efficiency of
the tube.
The input voltage and current can be written as

Vin  Vg  Vk  Vg 1 jLk gm  Iin  jCgk Vg

The expression for the input impedance can be derived as

1 1
Zin   j provided 1 2L2k gm2
2Lk Cgk gm 3L2k Cgk gm2
Input resistance is inversely proportional to the square of the frequency
whereas the input reactance is inversely proportional to the cube of
frequency. Therefore at high frequency the input impedance tense to zero or
short and the output power decreased rapidly.

Gain – Bandwidth product limitation

The maximum gain at resonance can be expressed as Am  gm G
G
The bandwidth can be expressed as BW
C
Hence the gain – bandwidth product is Am BW   gm C

The above equation reveals that the gain – bandwidth product of a vacuum
tube is independent of frequency and is constant. Therefore ordinary
resonant circuit cannot be used with a microwave tube.
RF losses

Skin effect loss: Can be reduced by increasing the current carrying area
which, in turn, increases the inter-electrode capacitance and thus limits
the high frequency operation.
Dielectric loss: Can be reduced by placing insulating materials at the
point of low electric field.

Radiation loss

At higher frequencies the length of the leads approaches to the operating
wavelength and as a result it starts radiating.
The radiation loss increases with increase in frequency and hence is very
severe at microwave frequencies.
To get rid of it proper shielding must be done.
The radiation losses can be minimized by enclosing the tube or using
concentric line construction.
Transit angle effect

The transit time of a tube is the time taken by an electron to travel

the inter-electrode distance.
At low frequencies the electron leaves the cathode and travels to
the anode within a small fraction of the positive half cycle of grid
voltage and hence the transit time effect is negligible.
At a high frequency the transit time is large compared to the time
period of the signal and cannot be neglected.
At high frequencies, even if the electron leaves the cathode during
positive grid potential, the grid potential may become negative or
might even go several cycles before the electron passes
At microwave frequencies the electron beam oscillates back and
forth in the region between the cathode and grid and even may
return to the cathode. The overall result is the reduction of operating
frequency of the vacuum tube.
Since the transit time is not negligible, the transconductance of the
device at microwave frequencies become complex with relatively small
magnitude. This, in turn, indicates the decrease in output.
The reduction in transit angle can be achieved either by increasing
anode voltage or by decreasing the inter-electrode spacing.
Increase in anode voltage will increase the power dissipation while
the decrease in inter-electrode spacing will result in the increase in
inter-electrode capacitance. The increase in inter-electrode capacitance
can be reduced by reducing the area of the electrodes, but this will
reduce anode dissipation and hence the output power.
In microwave tubes the transit angle can be reduced by first
accelerating electron beam with a very high DC voltage and then
velocity modulating it.
Classification of Microwave Tubes:
High frequency tubes are generally categorized into two classes, namely,
(i) linear beam tubes (or O – Type) and (ii) crossed field tubes (or M – Type).

In a linear beam tube the electrons, emitted from the electron gun,
receives a potential energy from the DC beam voltage and accelerate
towards the anode.
As a result the potential energy is converted into kinetic energy before
they arrive in the interaction region.
In the interaction region these electrons face the microwave field and
either accelerate or decelerate depending on the phase of the microwave
field.
The acceleration or deceleration of the electron beam results in the
bunching of electrons which then drift down the tube and arrive at the
output structure.
At the output structure these bunched electrons induce a current and give
up their kinetic energy to the output microwave field.
Finally they are collected by the collector.
Throughout the journey the electrons, in the electron beam, remain
together with the help of a focusing magnetic field whose axis coincides
with the axis of the electron beam.

There are different types of linear beam tubes, namely, two cavity
klystron, reflex klystron, traveling wave tubes, forward wave amplifiers,
backward wave amplifier and oscillators, twystron etc.
Klystron and reflex klystrons are resonant structures.
TWT, FWA, BWA and BWOs are non-resonant structures.
The twystron is a hybrid structure and uses combinations of klystron and
TWT components.
Klystron Amplifier:

Klystron works on the principle of velocity and current modulation.

It consists of an electron gun assembly, a buncher cavity; a catcher
cavity and a collector.
The microwave field, to be amplified, is fed at the buncher cavity
whereas the amplified output is taken from the catcher cavity.
If the electrons, from the electron gun assembly, pass the buncher
cavity at zero cavity gap voltage, they remain unaffected and leaves the
cavity without any change in velocity.
If they pass the cavity during the positive half cycle, they face an
accelerating field and leave the cavity with a higher velocity.
If they pass the cavity during the negative half cycle, they face a
decelerating field and leave the cavity with a lower velocity. T
This process is known as velocity modulation and it results in the
bunching of electrons.
The bunched electrons moves towards the catcher cavity
Due to the bunching the density of electrons in the catcher cavity
varies cyclically with time.
Since the electron beam has been modulated by a RF field, it
contains an ac component and is called current modulated.
If the maximum bunching occurs approximately midway between
the second cavity grids during its retarding phase, then the kinetic
energy of the electron beam is transferred to the field of the second
cavity, resulting in amplification.
After giving up their energy in the catcher cavity, the electron beam
emerges from it with a reduced velocity and is finally collected at the
collector.
A reflex klystron can provide upto 500 kW CW power and 30 MW pulsed
power at 10 GHz, with a power gain about 30 dB and efficiency about 40%.
In the following section we will do the quantitative analysis of a two cavity
klystron under the following assumptions

1. Electron beam has a uniform cross – sectional density

2. Space charge and debunching effect is negligible
3. Magnitude of the input microwave signal is much smaller than the
DC accelerating voltage.
4. Electrons leave the cathode with zero initial velocity
5. The transit time of the electrons across the cavity gap is very small
in comparison with to the time period of the input RF signal.
6. The cathode, anode, cavity grids and collector of the tube are all
parallel.
7. The cavity grids of the tube do not intercept any passing electron.
8. The RF fields are totally confined within the cavities and are zero in
the drift space.
The velocity of an electron, entering the buncher cavity under the influence
of a high DC voltage , can be expressed as
V0
2eV0
v0   0.593 V0  106
m

The gap voltage can be written as

Vs  V1 sin  t   V1 V0 

The average transit time through the buncher gap distance “d” is
  d v0  t1  t0

The average gap transit angle is

g    d v0   t1  t0 

The average microwave voltage in the buncher gap can be expressed as

11
t
sin  g 2   g 
Vs   V1 sin  t  dt  V1 sin  t 0  
 t0  g 2   2

Called beam coupling coefficient

i  sin  g 2   g 2 
At the buncher cavity the input signal is superimposed on the DC voltage and
hence the velocity of the electron, exiting from the buncher cavity, will be

2e 
  g  
 2eV0 
 i V1  g  

v  t1    0
V   V
i 1 sin 
 0t    1  sin 
 0t  
m   2   m 
 V0  2  

Now i  1 and V1 V0
called the depth of velocity modulation
Therefore
2eV0 
 i V1  g  

v  t1   1  sin 
 0t  
m 
 2V0  2  

Substitute v0  2eV0 m


 i V1  g  
 known as equation for
v  t1   v 0 1  sin  t 0    velocity modulation

 2V0  2  


 i V1  g  

Alternate form: v  t1   v 0 1  sin  t 0   

 2V0  2  
 Also called Applegate diagram

Under such
circumstance all the
electrons, leaved the
cavity betweent a and ,
t c will arrive at a

distance L from the

buncher cavity at the
same time t d and will
form bunch of
electrons.

Since tc  tb  ta, a L can be found such that

it satisfies the condition:
Alternate form
L  v0  t d  tb   vmin  t d  ta   vmax  t d  tc 

     
L  v 0  t d  tb   vmin  t d  tb    vmax  t d  tb 
 2   2 
The power delivered by the electron beam to the catcher cavity can be
written as
V22 V22 V22 V22 1 1 1 1
     
Rsh Rsho RB RL
2Rsh 2Rsho 2RB 2RL

The loaded Q- factor of the catcher cavity circuit, at the resonance

1 1 1 1
frequency, can be expressed as   
QL Q0 QB Qext

Q ext :Quality factor of the external load

QB :Quality factor of the beam loading
Q0 :Quality factor of the catcher cavity walls
QL :Loaded quality factor of whole catcher cavity
The average energy of the electrons, leaving the buncher cavity over
a complete cycle, is almost equal to the average energy of the electrons
entering the cavity during the period, provided the buncher cavity gap
is negligible.
If this gap is not negligible then the average energy of the electrons,
leaving the buncher cavity over a cycle, is larger than the energy of the
electrons entering the cavity during the period.
The difference in the average energy between the input and output
electrons results due to the interaction between the electrons and RF
field in the buncher cavity. This effect is known as “beam loading”.
Two cavity klystron is associated with a considerable amount of
noise, they are not generally used in receiver circuits. However, they
found wide applications in troposcatter transmitter, UHF TV transmitter
power amplifier and in ground stations for satellite communication.
Two Cavity Klystron Oscillator:
If a fraction of the output of such amplifier is fed back to the input with a
unity feedback loop gain and phase shift of integral multiple of 2 (i.e. in
positive feedback) then it will produce oscillation and will result in a
klystron oscillator.

Typical two cavity klystron oscillator can produce output power in the
range 2W – 10 W in the frequency band 5 GHz - 50 GHZ.
In addition, two cavity oscillators with output power of 200 W are also
available.
Such tubes find applications in CW Doppler radar, frequency
modulators, high power microwave links and as pump source in
parametric amplifiers.
A two cavity klystron has the advantage of producing relatively high
CW power as compared to their size.
It also suffers from some major disadvantages like frequency tuning.
The cavities, used in a two cavity klystron, have high Q with narrow
bandwidths and thus individual tuning is awkward.
Maintaining the positive feedback is also difficult.
Therefore, the two cavity klystrons are generally used for fixed
frequency applications.
Reflex Klystron Oscillator:

The DC voltage generates a wide band of RF noise in the cavity.

Due to the presence of the cavity, the RF noise whose frequency
corresponds to a resonant mode of the cavity sustains and triggers the
initial RF oscillation in the device.
When the electron beam enters into the cavity it gets velocity
modulated by this RF voltage.
The electrons, entering the cavity gap at the positive half cycle, gets
accelerated and moves with faster velocity while the electrons; entering
the cavity gap at the negative half cycle, gets decelerated and moves with
slower velocity. The electrons, entering the cavity gap at the zero gap
voltage moves with unchanged velocity.
The velocity modulated electrons then proceeds to the repeller
terminal and experience a repelling force from the repeller.
As a result their velocities start decreasing and finally become zero
before reaching the repeller terminal.
The zero velocity electrons still experience the repelling and hence
start moving, but now towards the cavity.
After certain time the electrons return to the cavity and are finally
collected by the cavity walls or other grounded metal parts of the tube.
In practice, the total duration taken by the individual electrons to get
velocity modulated and return back to the cavity are not same.
This is because, the electrons, moving with faster velocity and hence
higher kinetic energy, penetrate more distance towards the repeller than
the electrons moving with slower velocity, as shown.
The electrons, velocity
modulated at the instant “a”
will take more time to return
to the cavity than the
electrons, velocity modulated
at the instants “b” and “c”.
In reflex klystron, the
repeller voltage is adjusted
so that all the electrons,
velocity modulated in
between “a” and “c” comes
back to the cavity at the same
instant “d”.
Explanation behind variation of the output power for different
modes:

As the mode number increases the electron bunches are formed more
slowly.
As a result the electrons get more time for mutual repulsion and hence
spread more.
In addition, higher order modes are also associated with long drift
time. This also adds more time for this mutual repulsion and causes
further electron spreading.
The spreading of electrons from the bunch, also known as debunching,
is thus becomes more prominent as the mode number increase.
Due to the debunching effect the returning electron bunch is less
populated with electrons, as compared with lower order modes and thus
corresponds to lower power to be delivered to the output cavity.
The figure reveals that if we want to work on a fixed frequency then
lower order modes are better whereas if we need frequency tuning then
the higher order modes are better.
There are two types of tuning mechanism that can be used. These are (i)
mechanical tuning and (ii) electronic tuning.
In mechanical tuning the dimensions of the cavity is varied either by
flexing a portion of cavity wall or by changing the space of the cavity grids.
In electrical tuning the repeller voltage is varied. The Electronic Tuning
f2  f1
Sensitivity (ETS) can be defined as ETS  MHz/volt where f1 and f2 are the
V2  V1
frequencies in MHZ at which mode power falls to the half of its value at the
top.
ETS is higher for higher order modes though the output is small
When operating with reflex klystron, the electrons should be prevented
from reaching the repeller terminal. Otherwise due to the impact of high
velocity electrons the repeller will be overheated and will be damaged
very quickly.
This can be done by connecting a resistor with the cathode of the
klystron so that the repeller does not get more positive than it.
Alternatively, a protector diode can be used with its anode connected
to the repeller and cathode connected to the cathode of the klystron.
With this arrangement repeller voltage cannot become positive.
When reflex klystron is switched on, a high negative voltage is first
applied to the repeller and then the positive anode voltage is applied.
This precaution prevents the high energy electrons from reaching the
repeller terminal
The magnitude of the fundamental component can be written as I2  2I0i J1  X

The DC power supplied by the beam voltage is given by Pdc  V0I0

The ac power delivered to the load is given by, Pac  V1I2 2

I2  2I0i J1  X

1 0i J1  X 
Pac  VI 

The bunching parameter of the reflex klystron oscillator can be written as

2V0 X
V V V  1 V   V1 
X  1 1 0  1 1 T0  1 1  n   2  1 1  2n    
1  2n  
2V0 2V0 2V0  4 2V0  2  2

2V0 X 2V0I0 XJ1  X 

Therefore Pac  V1I0i J1  X   I0i J1  X  
   
i  2n    2n  2 
 2  

Pac 2V0I0 XJ1  X  2XJ1  X 

  
and Pdc    
V0I0  2n    2n  
 2  2
The output power can be expressed in terms of repeller voltage and is given
by
V0I0 XJ1  X  Vr  V0  e can be used to calculate the power
Pac 
L 2mV0 output at the center frequency

If an electron returns to the cavity a little before the time  n  1  T, the

 4
current lags behind the fields and inductive reactance is presented to the
circuit. On the other hand if the electron returns to the cavity a little after
the time  n  1  T , the current leads the fields and capacitive is presented to
 4
the circuit.

The phasor admittance is a

The electronic admittance can be function of DC beam admittance,
written as
DC transit angle and the second
I0   2J1  X   j 2 0 
2  

Ye  Ge  jBe  i 0
e transit of the electron beam
V0 2 X
through the cavity gap and is
nonlinear.
Helix Traveling Wave Tube:

The Traveling Wave Tubes or TWTs are non-resonant structure and

hence are wideband device.
The TWTs incorporate a slow wave structure within it and wave
propagates through this slow wave structure with a velocity almost equal
to the velocity of the electrons in the beam.
Due to the interaction time between the traveling RF field and the
electrons in TWTs is much larger than klystron and lasts over the entire
length of the circuit.
Due to the interaction between the RF field and the electrons, a small
amount of velocity modulation is introduced in the electron beam which
later transforms into the current modulation.
The current modulation, in turn, induces a RF current in the circuit and
thus results in amplification.
In general, there are two types of TWTs (i) helix TWT and (ii) coupled cavity
TWT.
Helix TWTs are widely used in broadband applications whereas the
coupled cavities TWTs are widely used for high average power applications
like in radar transmitters.
In coupled cavity TWTs, there is a coupling effect between the cavities
which is absent in the case of klystrons.

Construction:

A basic helix TWT consists of an electron beam, focused by a constant

magnetic field along the electron beam, and a slow wave structure.
The magnet used for focusing the electron beam may be a solenoid or a
permanent magnet.
The disadvantages of the solenoid are that it is relatively bulky and also
consumes power. Therefore this arrangement is suitable for high power
tubes where power output is more than few kW.
For satellite communication and low power applications, where the
weight as well as the power consumption should be minimized, permanent
magnets are used.
In satellite application, to reduce bulk, periodic permanent magnet (PPM)
focusing is used.
In PPM a series of small magnet is located right along the tube with gaps
between successive magnets. The beam slightly defocuses in these gaps
but again refocused by the next magnet.
 In PPM the individual magnets are interconnected.
The slow wave structure is either a helix or a folded back line.
The main advantage of helical slow wave structure is that it is
inherently non-resonant and hence large bandwidth can be obtained
whereas the main disadvantage is that the helical turns in a helix TWT
are in close proximity and hence there is a potential chance of
oscillation to set up due to feedback at high frequency.
The helical structure also limits the use of the tube at high
frequencies because the diameter of the helix must be small to allow a
high RF field at the center which, in turn, presents focusing difficulties,
especially under operating conditions where vibration is possible.
In a helix TWT, the applied RF signal propagates around the turn of the
helix and results in an electric field at the center of the helix along the
helix axis.
The axial electric field propagates with a velocity close to the product of
the ratio of the helix pitch to helix circumference and the velocity of the
light.
In practice, the ratio is so adjusted that the velocity of the axial electric
field becomes almost equal to the velocity of the electrons in free space.
More precisely, the DC velocity of the electrons is maintained slightly
higher than the phase velocity of the travelling wave.
When the electrons enter the helix tube, an interaction takes place
between the moving axial electric field and the moving electrons.
As a result of this interaction, the electrons transfer a net energy to the
wave on the helix and signal amplification takes place.
Energy amplification:

Assume three electrons are entering the helix at three different instants.
The first electron enters the helix when the RF field is retarding and
hence it will move with a slower velocity, the second electron enters the
helix when the RF field is zero and hence it will move with unchanged
velocity and the third electron enters the helix when the RF field is
accelerating and hence it will move with a faster velocity.
Due to this, the first electron will take more time to reach the collector
than the second and third electron and the third electron will take less time
to reach the collector than the first and second electron.
Since the first electron enters the helix at a before time than the others
and the third electron enters the helix at a later time than the others
therefore the length of the helix can be adjusted so that all the three
electrons can reach the collector at the same time and thus forming a
bunch at the collector end.
 The bunching shifts the phase by  2 .
As a result of the phase shift, the electron in the bunch encounters a
strong retarding field and energy is delivered to the RF field.

Why attenuator is required?

The mismatch exists between the input and output coupler over a wide
frequency range results in a reflected wave from the output coupler.
At the input, a part of the reflected signal is re-reflected which now
travels towards the load. During this travel, they are amplified by the tube.
The total procedure results in an unwanted oscillation in the circuit.
To get rid of it, an attenuator is placed near the center of the helix.
The bunched electrons emerging from the attenuator induce a new
electric field with the same frequency which, in turn, results in amplified
microwaves signal.
The peak output power of a single helix TWT is limited to about 3 kW due
to the current handling capability of the helix structure.
For low input power, the small signal gain of the helix TWT is almost
constant.
If the input power is increased the output power does not increase in
proportion, but instead attains a maximum value and then starts
decreasing.
The crossed field tubes are also known as M – type tubes after the French
TPOM (tubes á propagation des ondes á champs magnétique or tubes for
propagation of waves in a magnetic field).
Magnetron Oscillators
In general magnetrons can be classified into three categories: (i) split
anode magnetron, (ii) cyclotron – frequency magnetron and (iii)
travelling wave magnetrons.
The split anode magnetron uses a static negative resistance between
the anode segments and generally operates at frequencies below
microwave range whereas the cyclotron frequency magnetron operates
under the synchronization between the RF field and a periodic
oscillation of electrons in a direction parallel to the field.
The cyclotron frequency magnetrons can operate at microwave
frequencies, however with low output power and low efficiency.
The travelling wave magnetrons works on the interaction of electrons
with a travelling RF field of linear velocity and are customarily referred
as magnetrons.
They can be classified as cylindrical magnetron, planar or linear
magnetron, coaxial magnetron, voltage tunable magnetron, inverted
coaxial magnetron and frequency agile magnetron.

Cylindrical magnetron:

In cylindrical magnetron several

reentrant cavities are used.
A DC voltage is applied between the
cathode and the anode and a magnetic
flux density is applied in perpendicular
to the electric field.
Under such circumstances the
electrons, emitted from the cathode,
follow cycloidal paths
For self consistent oscillation the total
phase shift around the anode must be
equal to 2n where “n” is an integer.
Therefore, the phase difference
between the successive cavities must be
equal to 2n 8  n 4 .
Best result is obtained when n = 4, i.e.,
the phase difference between the
adjacent cavities is  . Such condition is
called a Pi – mode of operation.
The RF fields also exist inside the
resonator but since they have no
significant contribution to the
magnetron operation, they have been
omitted.
When the RF field is absent, the path followed by the electrons “a” and
“b” is shown by the dotted line. However, this path is modified in the
presence of a RF field.
For formal operation of the tube, the anode voltage and magnetic field
is so adjusted that the electron “a” gains a particular tangential velocity
with which it travels from position “1” to “2” at a time equal to the half of
the time period of the RF field.
Therefore when it reaches the point “2” the electric field in the cavity
has reversed it polarity from that shown.
Thus if the electron “a” faced a retarding field at position “1” then it
also faces a retarding field at position “2”.
As a result the electron “a” continues to be slowed down by
transferring energy to the RF field and moves towards the anode.
Finally the electron strikes the anode surface after delivering major
part of its energy, gained from anode potential, to the RF field and thus
amplifying it.
If the electron starts from the cathode at a favoring RF field, e.g.,
electron “b”, then it is accelerated by the field and gain velocity.
However, due to the presence of the magnetic field it is deflected more
sharply than in the absence of the RF field and quickly returns to the
cathode causing back heating of the cathode. In practice 5% of the
anode power is lost in this manner.
These electrons are undesirable as it also absorbs energy from the RF
field.
However, such electrons do not stay long in the interaction region and
hence does not have much time to absorb energy from the RF field.
In addition to the above there is also a focusing mechanism which
keeps the working electrons, i.e., electrons “a”, in step with the field in
the interaction space. This helps the working electrons to deliver
maximum possible energy to the RF field.
The electron at the position “A” is in the vicinity of positive anode and
hence the component of the RF fields aids the radial DC field whereas
the electron, at position “C”, is in the vicinity of the negative anode and
hence the RF field opposes the radial DC field.

Therefore the electrons at the position

“A” will face a favorable field and will be
accelerated while the electrons at the
position “C” will face an unfavorable field
and will be decelerated.
However if the slower electrons are emitted before the faster electrons
then there is a fair chance for the faster electrons to catch the slower
electrons, emitted earlier.
This causes bunching of electrons around the electron whose relative
position is indicated at “B”.
The bunching procedure in magnetrons is also known as phase
focusing and is similar to velocity modulation.

The selective grouping of the electrons,

results in a spoke shaped space charge cloud
of electrons.
In practice there will be one spoke per
cavity for Pi – mode operation.
These spokes rotate at an angular velocity equivalent to 2 poles per
cycle in the clockwise direction to keep up with the RF phase changes
between adjoining anode poles.
It is not difficult to imagine that the electric field itself is rotating in the
clockwise direction at the same speed as the spokes.

Because of the rotating RF fields such magnetrons are also called as

travelling wave magnetron.
It may be noted that the electric field, existing in the interaction space of
the magnetron, corresponds to the rotating field in the air gap of a poly-
phase electric machine. The pi – mode corresponds to a single phase
system whereas the other modes correspond to various poly-phase
arrangements.
In magnetron the RF magnetic flux lines pass through the cavities and
are parallel to the cathode axis whereas the RF electric field lines are
concentrated across the coupling slots and also fringe out to the
interaction space in the transverse direction.
In practice a magnetron, consisting of “N” resonant coupled cavities, can
support N resonant frequencies or modes.
The performance of a magnetron can also be explained in terms of the
characteristic curve.
Let the magnetic flux density is kept sufficiently high and anode
voltage is increased from the low values.
For low value, the anode current is cut-off and no oscillation is
obtained.
When n  N 2 line is reached  becomes equal to  and pi – mode
oscillation builds up.
At this point the space charge cloud encircles the cathode relatively
slowly since only N 2 oscillations are available for the electron to make
a complete revolution.
For higher anode voltage the electrons rotate faster and the
synchronization with the resonator field is lost and the oscillation stops.
This mode jumping can be prevented by using strapping technique. The
straps are basically two rings of heavy gauge that are connected only to
the alternate anode poles.
In Pi – mode operation each ring is at an uniform potential, but in
opposite polarity, and hence behaves as a capacitor and results in a
capacitive loading to the cavities. This capacitive loading reduces the
frequency of this mode.
For other modes the relative phase difference between two strapped
points of the same strapping ring is not zero. This results in a non-
uniform potential along the rings and a current flows through them.
This flow of currents results in an inductive loading to the cavity which,
in turn, raises the frequencies for these modes. The wanted pi – mode is
thus separated from the others.
If the operating frequency of the
magnetron is above 10 GHz then
the realization of strapping
technique becomes extremely
difficult and becomes almost
impossible.
This is because, at high
frequencies the cavities are small
and also more number of cavities
(16 or 32) are required to insure a
suitable RF field in the interaction
space.
Typically a 10% change in magnetic flux density change the output
power by 60%.
Attenuating microwave energy:
This method is based on the attenuation of microwave energy between
the magnetron and the load and therefore has no effect on the magnetron.
However, it is a mechanical method and is complex and also costly.
Magnetrons are widely used as a source in radar transmitters,
microwave ovens and also for industrial heating.
Domestic microwave oven requires a standard power of 600 W – 900
W at a frequency of 915 MHz or 2450 MHz.
For industrial heating the required power level is in kW level at MHz
frequencies.
A magnetron can deliver up to 40 MW of peak power at 10 GHz with
just 50 kV input voltage. T
he average power output is about 800 kW. The efficiency of magnetron
ranges from 40% to70%.
In practice no other microwave devices can perform the same function
with same size, weight, operating voltage and efficiency.
 Conventional travelling wave magnetrons are widely used to
generate high peak power RF pulses of frequencies as high as 70 GHz.
Beacon magnetrons – a miniaturized version of conventional
magnetrons, can produce a peak output power of 3.5 kW while
exhibiting negligible frequency shift and long life performance under
severe environmental and temperature conditions.
Such magnetrons also have weight less than two pounds and hence
are ideal for the applications where very compact, low voltage source
of pulsed power is required, such as, airborne missile, satellite and
Doppler systems.

In Pi – mode each cavity of the magnetron, along with its input gap, acts
as a short circuited transmission line of quarter wavelength long and
hence has a maximum electric field across the gap. The fields in two
consecutive cavities also are oppositely directed.