0191 -9067/80/040289-09$02.00/0 Copyright ® 1980 SUN SAT Energy Council S-BAND MICROWAVE GENERATION WITH SPHERICAL GYROCONS JAMES E. RANKIN and PAUL J. TALLERICO Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Abstract — We examine the benderless, spherical gyrocon as a power amplifier at UHF and S-band frequencies using computer simulations. The principal tube qualities are outlined at S-band, with particular attention to 2.45-GHz parameters. We find highly efficient operation predicted at that frequency with high-unit device power, around 1.8-MW input. Cooling requirements per unit area are comparable with klystrons at much lower power. We compare other power levels at 2.45 GHz, and performance at constant input power at other frequencies. Potential improvements to gyrocon design are discussed. 1. THE SPHERICAL GYROCON Introduction Both solid-state and classical electron-tube amplifiers have been studied for the rf power transmitter for the Solar Power Satellite. The classical electron tubes studied for this application include the klystron, the amplitron and the magnetron. The amplitron and magnetron have the advantages of low weight per unit power and high dc-to-rf conversion efficiency, but they have the disadvantages of high noise and low gain. The klystron tends to be heavier, has lower efficiency, lower noise and much better gain. We consider the gyrocon amplifier to be a hybrid between the crossed field amplifier (the amplitron and magnetron) and the klystron. Our preliminary work indicates that the gyrocon is capable of high efficiency, low weight per unit power, and high rf gain. The computer model indicates nothing about noise, but we expect the noise behavior to be good because the gyrocon output cavity is quite similar to a klystron output cavity. The spherical gyrocon is an adaptation (Figure 1) of the original microwave ber- mutron tube of Kaufman and Oltman (1) (Figure 2) with certain improvements. These include: 1. output cavity focus coils invented by Budker et al. (2) (Figure 3); 2. a compensating, static magnetic field for the output cavity invented by Budker er al. (2); 3. a beam-driven deflection cavity proposed by Tallerico (3), and Budker er al. (2); 4. a spherical ring output resonator proposed by Tallerico and Rankin for ease of computer analysis. The fourth item is primarily for output-cavity normal-mode analysis. We anticipate that actual operating models might use specially curved surfaces to minimize cavity losses.
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