Experiments on a Ku-band gyrotron traveling-wave-tube amplifier with a tapered waveguide

A Ku-band gyrotron traveling-wave-tube (gyro-TWT) amplifier was investigated. To obtain a wide operating bandwidth, we used a two-stage tapered rectangular waveguide interaction circuit. An electron beam of 27 keV and 3.56 A was produced from a double-anode magnetron-injection-gun (MIG). The measured frequency bandwidth over 10 dB gain in the linear operation region was found to be 18%. The gyro-TWT’s saturated output power was 14.9 kW at 14.4 GHz, corresponding to a saturated output power gain of 27.4 dB and an efficiency of 15.5%. The measured experimental results were in agreement with those of non-linear numerical simulations.