Suppressing RF breakdown of powerful backward wave oscillator by field redistribution

An over mode method for suppressing the RF breakdown on metal surface of resonant reflector cavity in powerful backward wave oscillator is investigated. It is found that the electric field is redistributed and electron emission is restrained with an over longitudinal mode cavity. Compared with the general device, a frequency band of about 5 times wider and a power capacity of at least 1.7 times greater are obtained. The results were verified in an X-band high power microwave generation experiment with the output power near 4 gigawatt. Copyright 2012 Author(s). This article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. [doi: 10.1063/1.3679546]