A compact X-band backward traveling-wave accelerating structure

Very high-energy electrons(VHEEs)are potential candidates for FLASH radiotherapy for deep-seated tumors.We proposed a compact VHEE facility based on an X-band high-gradient high-power technique.In this study,we investigated and realized the first X-band backward traveling-wave(BTW)accelerating structure as the buncher for a VHEE facility.A method for calculating the parameters of single cell from the field distribution was introduced to simplify the design of the BTW structure.Time-domain circuit equations were applied to calculate the transient beam parameters of the buncher in the unsteady state.A prototype of the BTW structure with a thermionic cathode-diode electron gun was designed,fabricated,and tested at high power at the Tsinghua X-band high-power test stand.The structure successfully operated with 5-MW microwave pulses from the pulse compressor and outputted electron bunches with an energy of 8 MeV and a pulsed current of 108 mA.

Effect of traveling-wave magnetic field on dendrite growth of high-strength steel slab: Industrial trials and numerical simulation

The dendrite growth behavior of high-strength steel during slab continuous casting with a traveling-wave magnetic field was studied in this paper. The morphology of the solidification structure and composition distribution were analyzed. Results showed that the columnar crystals could deflect and break when the traveling-wave magnetic field had low current intensity. With the increase in current intensity, the secondary dendrite arm spacing and solute permeability decreased, and the columnar crystal transformed into an equiaxed crystal. The electromagnetic force caused by the traveling-wave magnetic field changed the temperature gradient and velocity magnitude and promoted the breaking and fusing of dendrites. Dendrite compactness and composition uniformity were arranged in descending order as follows:columnar-toequiaxed transition (high current intensity), columnar crystal zone (low current intensity), columnar-to-equiaxed transition (low current intensity), and equiaxed crystal zone (high current intensity). Verified numerical simulation results combined with the boundary layer theory of solidification front and dendrite breaking–fusing model revealed the dendrite deflection mechanism and growth process. When thermal stress is not considered, and no narrow segment can be found in the dendrite, the velocity magnitude on the solidification front of liquid steel can reach up to 0.041 m/s before the dendrites break.

Fault locating for traveling-wave accelerators based on transmission line theory

Radio-frequency(RF)breakdown analysis and location are critical for successful development of high-gradient traveling-wave(TW)accelerators,especially those expected to generate high-intensity,high-power beams.Compared with commonly used schemes involving dedicated devices or complicated techniques,a convenient approach for breakdown locating based on transmission line(TL)theory offers advantages in the typical constant-gradient TW-accelerating structure.To deliver such an approach,an equivalent TL model has been constructed to equate the TW-accelerating structure based on the fun-damental theory of the TL transient response in the time domain.An equivalence relationship between the TW-accelerating structure and the TL model has been established via analytical derivations associated with grid charts and verified by TL circuit simulations.Furthermore,to validate the proposed fault-locating method in practical applications,an elaborate analysis via such a method has been conducted for the recoverable RF-breakdown phenomena observed at an existing prototype of a TW-accelerating-structure-based beam injector constructed at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology.In addition,further considerations and discussion for extending the applications of the proposed method have been given.This breakdown-locating approach involving the transient response in the framework of TL theory can be a conceivable supple-ment to existing methods,facilitating solution to construction problems at an affordable cost.

Design and development of high linearity millimeter wave traveling-wave tube for satellite communications

The linearity of the traveling-wave tube is a very important characteristic for a modern communication system. To improve the linearity of the traveling-wave tube at no expense of the saturated output power and overall efficiency, a modified pitch profile combined with a small adjustment of operating parameters is proposed. The optimal design of the helix circuit is evaluated theoretically by a large signal analysis, and the experimental test is also carried out to make a comparison of performance between the novel and original designed traveling-wave tubes. The experiments show that the saturated output powers and efficiencies of these two tubes are close to each other, while the linearity of the traveling-wave tube is obviously improved. The total phase shift and AM/PM conversion at saturation of the novel tube, averaged over the operating band, are only 30.6°/d B and 2.5°/d B, respectively, which are 20.1°/d B and 1.6°/d B lower than those of the original tube, respectively. Moreover, the third-order intermodulation of the novel tube is up to 2.2 d Bc lower than that of the original tube.

Fabrication,tuning,and high-gradient testing of an X-band traveling-wave accelerating structure for VIGAS

X-band high-gradient linear accelerators are a challenging and attractive technology for compact electron linear-accelerator facilities.The Very Compact Inverse Compton Scattering Gamma-ray Source(VIGAS)program at Tsinghua University will utilize X-band high-gradient accelerating structures to boost the electron beam from 50 to 350 MeV over a short distance.A constant-impedance traveling-wave structure consisting of 72 cells working in the 2π/3 mode was designed and fabricated for this project.Precise tuning and detailed measurements were successfully applied to the structure.After 180 h of conditioning in the Tsinghua high-power test stand,the structure reached a target gradient of 80 MV/m.The breakdown rate versus gradient of this structure was measured and analyzed.

A novel slotted helix slow-wave structure for high power Ka-band traveling-wave tubes

A novel slotted helix slow-wave structure （SWS） is proposed to develop a high power, wide-bandwidth, and high reliability millimeter-wave traveling-wave tube （TWT）. This novel structure, which has higher heat capacity than a conven- tional helix SWS, evolves from conventional helix SWS with three parallel rows of rectangular slots made in the outside of the helix tape. In this paper, the electromagnetic characteristics and the beam-wave interaction of this novel structure operating in the Ka-band are investigated. From our calculations, when the designed beam voltage and beam current are set to be 18.45 kV and 0.2 A, respectively, this novel circuit can produce over 700-W average output power in a frequency range from 27.5 GHz to 32.5 GHz, and the corresponding conversion efficiency values vary from 19% to 21.3%, and the maximum output power is 787 W at 30 GHz.

Design, fabrication, and testing of low-group-velocity S-band traveling-wave accelerating structure

To implement the Tsinghua Thomson Scattering X-ray Source upgrade plan and the Very Compact Inverse Compton Scattering Gamma-ray Source (VIGAS) program, a new 1.5-m traveling-wave accelerating structure was designed to replace the old 3-m SLAC-type structure with the aim of increasing the accelerating gradient from15 to 30 MV/m. The new type of structure works in the 3π/4 mode with a comparatively low group velocity varying from 0.007c to 0.003c to increase the accelerating gradient at a given power. An elliptical iris was employed to reduce the surface field enhancement. The filling process of the low-group-velocity structure was analyzed using a circuit model. After fabrication, the structure was precisely tuned using the non-contact tuning method, followed by detailed low-power radiofrequency measurements. The structure was first installed and utilized at a beamline for the terahertz experiment at Tsinghua University. After 120 h of conditioning, it is now operating at a gradient of 24.2 MV/m and a 20.7-MW input power, with the klystron operating at its full power. It is expected to generate an accelerating gradient of 30 MV/m when the klystron power is upgraded to 30 MW in the near future.

A staggered double vane circuit for a W-band traveling-wave tube amplifier

Based on the combination of a staggered double vane slow wave structure （SWS） and round electron beam, a 200-W W-band traveling-wave tube （TWT） amplifier is studied in this paper. The main advantages of round beam operation over the sheet beam is that the round beam can be formed more easily and the focus requirement can be dramatically reduced. It operates in the fundamental mode at the first spatial harmonic. The geometric parameters are optimized and a transition structure for the slow wave circuit is designed which can well match the signal that enters into and goes out from the tube. Then a TWT model is established and the particle-in-cell （PIC） simulation results show that the tube can provide over 200-W output power in a frequency range of 88 GHz-103 GHz with a maximum power of 289 W at 95 GHz, on the assumption that the input power is 0.1 W and the beam power is 5.155 kW. The corresponding conversion efficiency and gain at 95 GHz are expected to be 5.6% and 34.6 dB, respectively. Such amplifiers can potentially be used in high power microwave-power-modules （MPM） and for other portable applications.

An Open Rectangular Waveguide Grating for Millimeter-Wave Traveling-Wave Tubes

Millimeter-wave traveling-wave tube （TWT） prevails nowadays as the amplifier for radar, communication and electronic countermeasures. The rectangular waveguide grating is a promising all-metal interaction circuit for the millimeter-wave TWT with advantages of high power capacity, fine heat dissipation, scalability to smaller dimen- sions for shorter wavelengths, compact structure and robust performance. Compared with the traditional closed structure, the open rectangular waveguide grating （ORWG） has wider bandwidth, lower cut-off frequency, and higher machining precision for higher working frequencies due to the open transverse. It is a potential structure that can work in the millimeter wave and even Terahertz band. The rf characteristics including dispersion and interaction impedance are investigated by both theoretic calculation and software simulation. The influences of the structure parameters are also discussed and compared, and the theoretical results agree well with the simula- tion results. Based on the study, the ORWG will favor the design of a broadband and high-power millimeter-wave TWT.

Design of a Novel Folded Waveguide for 60-GHz Traveling-Wave Tubes

The 60-GHz traveling-wave tube （TWT） prevails nowadays as the amplifier for the satellite communication and electronic countermeasures. The folded waveguide （FW） is a promising all-metal slow-wave structure （SWS） for the 60-GHz TWT with advantages of robust performance, fine heat dissipation, considerable power and bandwidth. A novel FW periodically loaded with rectangular grooves is analyzed for the purpose of gaining higher power and gain. The rf characteristics are investigated by numerical simulation, and the nonlinear large- signal performance of such a TWT is analyzed by a 3I） particle-in-cell code MAGIC. Compared with normal circuits, relatively higher continuous-wave power （40-56 W） and similar bandwidth （5 GHz） are predicted by simulation. Meanwhile, the designed operation voltage is 10.5 kV, which keeps the low-voltage advantage of the popular helix TWT competitor. The novel FW will favor the design of a broadband and high-power 60-GHz TWT

Directed transport of coupled Brownian motors in a two-dimensional traveling-wave potential

Considering an elastically coupled Brownian motors system in a two-dimensional traveling-wave potential, we investigate the effects of the angular frequency of the traveling wave, wavelength, coupling strength, free length of the spring, and the noise intensity on the current of the system. It is found that the traveling wave is the essential condition of the directed transport. The current is dominated by the traveling wave and varies nonmonotonically with both the angular frequency and the wavelength. At an optimal angular frequency or wavelength, the current can be optimized. The coupling strength and the free length of the spring can locally modulate the current, especially at small angular frequencies. Moreover, the current decreases rapidly with the increase of the noise intensity, indicating the interference effect of noise on the directed transport.

Design of a re-entrant double-staggered ladder circuit for V-band coupled-cavity traveling-wave tubes

The re-entrant double-staggered ladder slow-wave structure is employed in a high-power V-band coupled-cavity traveling-wave tube. This structure has a wide bandwidth, a moderate interaction impedance, and excellent thermal dissipation properties, as well as easy fabrication. A well-matched waveguide coupler is proposed for the structure. Combining the design of attenuators, a full-scale three-dimensional circuit model for the V-band coupled-cavity traveling- wave tube is constructed. The electromagnetic characteristics and the beam wave interaction of this structure are investigated. The beam current is set to be 100 mA, and the cathode voltage is tuned from 16.8 kV to 15.8 kV. The calculation results show that this tube can produce a saturated average output power over 100 W with an instantaneous bandwidth greater than 1.25 GHz in the frequency ranging from 58 GHz to 62 GHz. The corresponding gain and electronic efficiency can reach over 32 dB and 6.5%, respectively.

An open-styled dielectric-lined azimuthally periodic circular waveguide for a millimeter wave traveling-wave tube

An open-styled dielectric-lined azimuthMly periodic circular waveguide （ODLAP-CW） for a millimeter-wave traveling-wave tube （TWT） is proposed, which is a modified form of a dielectric-lined azimuthally periodic circular waveguide （DLAP-CW）. The slow-wave characteristics of the open-styled DLAP-CW are studied by using the spatial harmonics method, which includes normalized phase velocity and interaction impedance. The complicated dispersion equations are numerically solved with MATLAB and the results are in good agreement with the simulation results obtained from HFSS. The influence of structural parameters on the RF properties is investigated based on our theory. The numerical results show that the optimal thickness of the metal rod can increase the interaction impedance, with the dielectric constant held fixed. Finally, the slow-wave characteristics and transmission properties of an open-styled structure are compared with those of the DLAP-CW. The results validate that the mode competition is eliminated in the improved structure with only a slight influence on the dispersion characteristics, which may significantly improve the stability of an open-styled DLAP-CW-based TWT, and the interaction efficiency is also improved.

New Traveling-Wave Antenna Resonating at 6 GHz Based on Artificial Transmission Line Metamaterial Structures for RF Portable Devices

Design of new metamaterial (MTM) traveling-wave antenna with “d-formed” left-handed structure is proposed. The proposed MTM structure is designed at a height of 0.8 mm from the ground plane with almost 2 GHz bandwidth. The most interesting feature of the design is the ability of enhancing the gain and total efficiency of the antenna without negative effects of the other important parameters like bandwidth. By using the “d-shaped” MTM structure and printed planar technique, the bandwidth of the MTM traveling-wave antenna is significantly increased at a resonant frequency of 6 GHz and also a foot print area reduction of the antenna structure is provided. Antenna size is 7.2 × 5 × 0.8 mm3. The proposed antenna is suitable for RF portable devices operating at 6 GHz.

A tuning method for nonuniform traveling-wave accelerating structures

The tuning method of uniform traveling-wave structures based on non-resonant perturbation field distribution measurement has been widely used in tuning both constant-impedance and constant-gradient structures. In this paper, the method of tuning nonuniform structures is proposed on the basis of the above theory. The internal reflection coefficient of each cell is obtained from analyzing the normalized voltage distribution. A numerical simulation of tuning process according to the coupled cavity chain theory has been done and the result shows each cell is in right phase advance after tuning. The method will be used in the tuning of a disk-loaded traveling-wave structure being developed at the Accelerator Laboratory, Tsinghua University.

Nonlinear investigation of beam-wave interaction in double-groove loaded folded-waveguide traveling-wave tube

A W-band traveling-wave tube (TWT) with double-groove loaded folded waveguide structure (FWSWS) has been designed and numerically modelled. The nonlinear performance of such a TWT is investigated by a particle-in-cell code MAGIC3D. Simulation results indicate this TWT produces a saturated electromagnetic power of 170.2 W at 90 GHz, corresponding to 36.9 dB gain and 69.6 mm interaction distance. A comparison between the novel folded waveguide traveling-wave tube (FWTWT) and the conventional one is also carried out to verify the effect of groove loading on the large-signal performance of TWT. Within the same working conditions, the double groove-loaded FWTWT could obtain higher saturated output power and gain in a shorter interaction length. The maximum of output power and gain of this novel TWT is 58.6% and 10% higher than those of the conventional FWTWT, while the 3-dB bandwidth of TWT is reduced to 4 GHz. With the additional advantage of ease of fabrication based on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technologies, the double-groove loaded FWSWS is suitable for a millimeter-wave TWT with high power capacity and gain.

Rotation-translation coupling of a double-headed Brownian motor in a traveling-wave potential

Considering a double-headed Brownian motor moving with both translational and rotational degrees of freedom,we investigate the directed transport properties of the system in a traveling-wave potential.It is found that the traveling wave provides the essential condition of the directed transport for the system,and at an appropriate angular frequency,the positive current can be optimized.A general current reversal appears by modulating the angular frequency of the traveling wave,noise intensity,external driving force and the rod length.By transforming the dynamical equation in traveling-wave potential into that in a tilted potential,the mechanism of current reversal is analyzed.For both cases of Gaussian and Lévy noises,the currents show similar dependence on the parameters.Moreover,the current in the tilted potential shows a typical stochastic resonance effect.The external driving force has also a resonance-like effect on the current in the tilted potential.But the current in the traveling-wave potential exhibits the reverse behaviors of that in the tilted potential.Besides,the currents obviously depend on the stability index of the Lévy noise under certain conditions.

Rotary traveling-wave oscillator design using 0.18μm CMOS

A rotary traveling-wave oscillator（RTWO） targeted at 5.8 GHz band operation is designed and fabricated using standard 0.18μm CMOS technology.Both simulation and measurement results are presented.The chip size including pads is 1.5×1.5 mm^2.The measured output power at a frequency of 5.285 GHz is 6.68 dBm,with a phase noise of-102 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset from the carrier.

Investigation of a wideband folded double-ridged waveguide slow-wave system

The folded double-ridged waveguide structure is presented and its properties used for wide-band traveling-wave tube are investigated. Expressions of dispersion characteristics, normalized phase velocity and interaction impedance of this structure are derived and numerically calculated. The calculated results using our theory agree well with those obtained by using the 3D electromagnetic simulation software HFSS. Influences of the ridge-loaded area and broad-wall dimensions on the high frequency characteristics of the novel slow-wave structure are discussed. It is shown that the folded double-ridged waveguide structure has a much wider relative passband than the folded waveguide slow-wave structure and a relative passband of 67% could be obtained, indicating that this structure can operate in broad-band frequency ranges of beam-wave interaction. The small signal gain property is investigated for ensuring the improvement of bandwidth. Meanwhile, with comparable dispersion characteristics, the transverse section dimension of this novel structure is much smaller than that of conventional one, which indicates an available way to reduce the weight of traveling-wave tube.

Numerical Investigation of Traveling Wave Electroosmotic Flows in A Microchannel

In this paper, a coordinate transformation method (CTM) is employed to numerically solve the Poisson–Nernst–Planck (PNP) equation and Navier–Stokes (NS) equations for studying the traveling-wave electroosmotic flow (TWEF) in a two-dimensional microchannel. Numerical solutions indicate that the numerical solutions of TWEF with and without the coordinate transformation are in good agreement, while CTM effectively improves stability and convergence rate of the numerical solution, and saves computational cost. It is found that the averaged flow velocity of TWEF in a micro-channel strongly depends on frequency of the electric field. Flow rate achieves a maximum around the charge frequency of the electric double layer. The approximate solutions of TWEF with slip boundary conditions are also presented for comparison. It is shown that the NS solution with slip boundary conditions agree well with those of complete PNP-NS equations in the cases of small ratios of Electric double layer(EDL) thickness to channel depth(λD/H). The NS solution with slip boundary conditions over-estimates the electroosmotic flow velocity as this ratio(λD/H) is large.