Improved power capacity in a high efficiency klystron-like relativistic backward wave oscillator by distributed energy extraction

With the efficiency increase of a klystron-like relativistic backward wave oscillator, the maximum axial electric field and harmonic current simultaneously appear at the end of the beam-wave interaction region, leading to a highly centralized energy exchange in the dual-cavity extractor and a very high electric field on the cavity surface. Thus, we present a method of distributed energy extraction in this kind of devices. Particle-in-cell simulations show that with the microwave power of 5.1 GW and efficiency of 70%, the maximum axial electric field is decreased from 2.26 MV/cm to 1.28 MV/cm, indicating a threefold increase in the power capacity. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.