A double-band high-power microwave source

In order to increase the power conversion efficiency of a magnetically insulated line oscillator (MILO), an axially extracted virtual cathode oscillator (VCO) is introduced to utilize the load current in the MILO, so it is called the MILO-VCO. In this device, the MILO and VCO are operated synchronously and generate high-power microwaves. The MILO-VCO is investigated in detail with particle-in-cell (PIC) methods (KARAT code). In simulation, the diode voltage is 640 kV and the current is 50 kA. The total peak power of the MILO-VCO is 5.22 GW and the corresponding power conversion efficiency is 16.3%. In the MILO-VCO, the peak power of the MILO is 3.91 GW and its frequency is 1.76 GHz; the peak power of the VCO is 1.33 GW and its frequency is 3.79 GHz. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.