HIGH PEAK AND AVERAGE POWER WITH AN L-BAND RELATIVISTIC MAGNETRON ON CLIA

CLIA (Compact Linear Induction Accelerator) is a 750 kV, 10 kA pulse-power generator using magnetic switching to produce 60-ns-long pulses at 200 Hz (90 kW average power) for longer than 1 s. As a first application, we used CLIA to drive an L-band magnetron. We observed that the magnetron was capable of consistent operation at repetition rates as high as 250 Hz with no breakdown or pulse-shortening induced by ps buildup or electrode erosion. As the repetition rate exceeded 100 Hz, the average power increased even as the peak power decreased, producing 1 GW peak power and 4.4 kW average power at 100 Hz and 600 MW peak and 63 kW average at 250 Hz. A short burst at a 1 kHz repetition rate indicated the possibility of 25 kW average microwave power operation.