Ka-Band Gyrotron Traveling-Wave Tubes With the Highest Continuous-Wave and Average Power

The results of experimental investigation of two Ka-band gyrotron traveling-wave tube (gyro-TWT) amplifiers with helically corrugated waveguides are presented. The first tube produces pulsed output power of 130-160 kW within the frequency range of 33.1-35.5 GHz and is capable of operating with a 10% duty factor. Reliability of its major components in the high average power operation regime (about 10 kW) was proven in a continuous-wave (CW) experiment. The second gyro-TWT amplifier delivered CW power of up to 7.7 kW with -3-dB bandwidth of 2.6 GHz and -1-dB bandwidth of 2.1 GHz. Effective implementation of single-stage depressed collectors (to the best of our knowledge, for the first time for gyro-TWTs) enabled the electron efficiencies as high as 36% for the pulsed tube and 33% for the CW tube to be achieved at operation at the second cyclotron harmonic.