FLEXI ELECTRODE ELECTRON GUN FOR LONG LIFE TRAVELLING-WAVE TUBES

A flexi electron gun consists of multiple electrodes and can be used to maintain uniform beam current over the life of a traveling-wave tube (TWT). The flexi electron gun consists of dispenser cathode, anode1, anode2, and anode3 in addition to a beam focusing electrode (BFE). In an optimized electron gun, anode1 potential plays an important role in increasing beam current within the same biased condition of electronic power conditioner (EPC) and can be used as a critical parameter to increase current with time when cathode performance (beam current) degrades with time. Geometry, position, and bias of these electrodes with respect to cathode provide low perveance electron beam optics to the interaction structure of a TWT. The flexi gun has been modelled in EGUN, developed and integrated with TWT, and simulated results are compared with experiment. This paper presents a detailed investigation of the effect of anode1 on beam current and also presents the cause of large variation of simulated and measured beam currents through back simulation in EGUN.