Generation of a Periodic Sequence of High-Power Ultrashort Pulses in a Chain of Coupled Backward-Wave and Traveling-Wave Tubes Operating in the Regimes of Amplification and Nonlinear Kompfner Suppression

We have studied the dynamics of an electronic microwave generator with backward-wave and traveling-wave tubes connected in the feedback circuit and operating in the regimes of amplification and nonlinear Kompfner absorption, respectively. It is shown that radiation generated in such a system can have the form of a periodic sequence of ultrashort pulses. The studied mechanism of pulse generation is analogous to the method of passive mode locking, which is widely used in laser physics.