An improved X-band magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator

This paper presents an improved X-band magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator (MILO) design that addresses several deficiencies found in previous experiments. In the new structure, an improved design of the launch point region is introduced, which improves the electric field uniformity on the cathode surface in order to suppress cathode flare formation. In addition, a new design for the load region is presented where the end of the cathode consists of four polymer velvet rings, a mesh is adopted as the anode of the load, and a metal barrel is employed as the beam dump. These improvements reduce energy deposition in the beam dump to less than 30 J/g, which probably suppresses plasma formation in the load region. Typical simulation results of the improved MILO show that when the applied voltage is 690 kV and beam current is 48 kA, high power microwave with an average power of 3.5 GW and a frequency of 9.26 GHz is generated. Furthermore, new meshes are specially studied for long pulse operation of this improved X-band MILO. Correlative experiments are being carried out in our laboratory.