Microwave Engineering - Cavity Klystron

For the generation and amplification of Microwaves, there is a need of some special tubes called
as Microwave tubes. Of them all, Klystron is an important one.
The essential elements of Klystron are electron beams and cavity resonators. Electron beams are
produced from a source and the cavity klystrons are employed to amplify the signals. A
collector is present at the end to collect the electrons. The whole set up is as shown in the
following figure.

The electrons emitted by the cathode are accelerated towards the first resonator. The collector at
the end is at the same potential as the resonator. Hence, usually the electrons have a constant
speed in the gap between the cavity resonators.
Initially, the first cavity resonator is supplied with a weak high frequency signal, which has to
be amplified. The signal will initiate an electromagnetic field inside the cavity. This signal is
passed through a coaxial cable as shown in the following figure.
Due to this field, the electrons that pass through the cavity resonator are modulated. On arriving
at the second resonator, the electrons are induced with another EMF at the same frequency. This
field is strong enough to extract a large signal from the second cavity.

Cavity Resonator
First let us try to understand the constructional details and the working of a cavity resonator.
The following figure indicates the cavity resonator.

A simple resonant circuit which consists of a capacitor and an inductive loop can be compared
with this cavity resonator. A conductor has free electrons. If a charge is applied to the capacitor
to get it charged to a voltage of this polarity, many electrons are removed from the upper plate
and introduced into the lower plate.
The plate that has more electron deposition will be the cathode and the plate which has lesser
number of electrons becomes the anode. The following figure shows the charge deposition on
the capacitor.
The electric field lines are directed from the positive charge towards the negative. If the
capacitor is charged with reverse polarity, then the direction of the field is also reversed. The
displacement of electrons in the tube, constitutes an alternating current. This alternating current
gives rise to alternating magnetic field, which is out of phase with the electric field of the
capacitor.
When the magnetic field is at its maximum strength, the electric field is zero and after a while,
the electric field becomes maximum while the magnetic field is at zero. This exchange of
strength happens for a cycle.

Closed Resonator
The smaller the value of the capacitor and the inductivity of the loop, the higher will be the
oscillation or the resonant frequency. As the inductance of the loop is very small, high
frequency can be obtained.
To produce higher frequency signal, the inductance can be further reduced by placing more
inductive loops in parallel as shown in the following figure. This results in the formation of a
closed resonator having very high frequencies.
In a closed resonator, the electric and magnetic fields are confined to the interior of the cavity.
The first resonator of the cavity is excited by the external signal to be amplified. This signal
must have a frequency at which the cavity can resonate. The current in this coaxial cable sets up
a magnetic field, by which an electric field originates.

Working of Klystron
To understand the modulation of the electron beam, entering the first cavity, let's consider the
electric field. The electric field on the resonator keeps on changing its direction of the induced
field. Depending on this, the electrons coming out of the electron gun, get their pace controlled.
As the electrons are negatively charged, they are accelerated if moved opposite to the direction
of the electric field. Also, if the electrons move in the same direction of the electric field, they
get decelerated. This electric field keeps on changing, therefore the electrons are accelerated and
decelerated depending upon the change of the field. The following figure indicates the electron
flow when the field is in the opposite direction.
While moving, these electrons enter the field free space called as the drift space between the
resonators with varying speeds, which create electron bunches. These bunches are created due
to the variation in the speed of travel.
These bunches enter the second resonator, with a frequency corresponding to the frequency at
which the first resonator oscillates. As all the cavity resonators are identical, the movement of
electrons makes the second resonator to oscillate. The following figure shows the formation of
electron bunches.
The induced magnetic field in the second resonator induces some current in the coaxial cable,
initiating the output signal. The kinetic energy of the electrons in the second cavity is almost
equal to the ones in the first cavity and so no energy is taken from the cavity.
The electrons while passing through the second cavity, few of them are accelerated while
bunches of electrons are decelerated. Hence, all the kinetic energy is converted into
electromagnetic energy to produce the output signal.
Amplification of such two-cavity Klystron is low and hence multi-cavity Klystrons are used.
The following figure depicts an example of multi-cavity Klystron amplifier.
With the signal applied in the first cavity, we get weak bunches in the second cavity. These will
set up a field in the third cavity, which produces more concentrated bunches and so on. Hence,
the amplification is larger.
Microwave Engineering - Reflex Klystron
This microwave generator, is a Klystron that works on reflections and oscillations in a single
cavity, which has a variable frequency.
Reflex Klystron consists of an electron gun, a cathode filament, an anode cavity, and an
electrode at the cathode potential. It provides low power and has low efficiency.

Construction of Reflex Klystron

The electron gun emits the electron beam, which passes through the gap in the anode cavity.
These electrons travel towards the Repeller electrode, which is at high negative potential. Due
to the high negative field, the electrons repel back to the anode cavity. In their return journey,
the electrons give more energy to the gap and these oscillations are sustained. The
constructional details of this reflex klystron is as shown in the following figure.

It is assumed that oscillations already exist in the tube and they are sustained by its operation.
The electrons while passing through the anode cavity, gain some velocity.

Operation of Reflex Klystron

The operation of Reflex Klystron is understood by some assumptions. The electron beam is
accelerated towards the anode cavity.
Let us assume that a reference electron er crosses the anode cavity but has no extra velocity and
it repels back after reaching the Repeller electrode, with the same velocity. Another electron,
let's say ee which has started earlier than this reference electron, reaches the Repeller first, but
returns slowly, reaching at the same time as the reference electron.
We have another electron, the late electron el, which starts later than both er and ee, however, it
moves with greater velocity while returning back, reaching at the same time as er and ee.
Now, these three electrons, namely er, ee and el reach the gap at the same time, forming
an electron bunch. This travel time is called as transit time, which should have an optimum
value. The following figure illustrates this.

The anode cavity accelerates the electrons while going and gains their energy by retarding them
during the return journey. When the gap voltage is at maximum positive, this lets the maximum
negative electrons to retard.
The optimum transit time is represented as
T=n+3/4wherenisanintegerT=n+3/4wherenisaninteger

This transit time depends upon the Repeller and anode voltages.

Applications of Reflex Klystron

Reflex Klystron is used in applications where variable frequency is desirable, such as −
  Radio receivers
 Portable microwave links
 Parametric amplifiers
 Local oscillators of microwave receivers
 As a signal source where variable frequency is desirable in microwave generators.

Travelling Wave Tube

Travelling wave tubes are broadband microwave devices which have no cavity resonators like
Klystrons. Amplification is done through the prolonged interaction between an electron beam
and Radio Frequency (RF) field.

Construction of Travelling Wave Tube

Travelling wave tube is a cylindrical structure which contains an electron gun from a cathode
tube. It has anode plates, helix and a collector. RF input is sent to one end of the helix and the
output is drawn from the other end of the helix.
An electron gun focusses an electron beam with the velocity of light. A magnetic field guides
the beam to focus, without scattering. The RF field also propagates with the velocity of light
which is retarded by a helix. Helix acts as a slow wave structure. Applied RF field propagated in
helix, produces an electric field at the center of the helix.
The resultant electric field due to applied RF signal, travels with the velocity of light multiplied
by the ratio of helix pitch to helix circumference. The velocity of electron beam, travelling
through the helix, induces energy to the RF waves on the helix.
The following figure explains the constructional features of a travelling wave tube.

Thus, the amplified output is obtained at the output of TWT. The axial phase velocity VpVp is
represented as
 Vp=Vc(Pitch/2πr)

Where r is the radius of the helix. As the helix provides least change in VpVp phase velocity, it
is preferred over other slow wave structures for TWT. In TWT, the electron gun focuses the
electron beam, in the gap between the anode plates, to the helix, which is then collected at the
collector. The following figure explains the electrode arrangements in a travelling wave tube.

Operation of Travelling Wave Tube

The anode plates, when at zero potential, which means when the axial electric field is at a node,
the electron beam velocity remains unaffected. When the wave on the axial electric field is at
positive antinode, the electron from the electron beam moves in the opposite direction. This
electron being accelerated, tries to catch up with the late electron, which encounters the node of
the RF axial field.
At the point, where the RF axial field is at negative antinode, the electron referred earlier, tries
to overtake due to the negative field effect. The electrons receive modulated velocity. As a
cumulative result, a second wave is induced in the helix. The output becomes larger than the
input and results in amplification.

Applications of Travelling Wave Tube

There are many applications of a travelling wave tube.
 TWT is used in microwave receivers as a low noise RF amplifier.
 TWTs are also used in wide-band communication links and co-axial cables as repeater
amplifiers or intermediate amplifiers to amplify low signals.
 TWTs have a long tube life, due to which they are used as power output tubes in
communication satellites.
  Continuous wave high power TWTs are used in Troposcatter links, because of large
power and large bandwidths, to scatter to large distances.
 TWTs are used in high power pulsed radars and ground based radars.
Microwave Engineering - Magnetrons
Unlike the tubes discussed so far, Magnetrons are the cross-field tubes in which the electric and
magnetic fields cross, i.e. run perpendicular to each other. In TWT, it was observed that
electrons when made to interact with RF, for a longer time, than in Klystron, resulted in higher
efficiency. The same technique is followed in Magnetrons.

Types of Magnetrons
There are three main types of Magnetrons.

Negative Resistance Type

 The negative resistance between two anode segments, is used.

 They have low efficiency.
 They are used at low frequencies (< 500 MHz).

Cyclotron Frequency Magnetrons

 The synchronism between the electric component and oscillating electrons is considered.

 Useful for frequencies higher than 100MHz.

Travelling Wave or Cavity Type

 The interaction between electrons and rotating EM field is taken into account.

 High peak power oscillations are provided.

 Useful in radar applications.

Cavity Magnetron
The Magnetron is called as Cavity Magnetron because the anode is made into resonant cavities
and a permanent magnet is used to produce a strong magnetic field, where the action of both of
these make the device work.

Construction of Cavity Magnetron

A thick cylindrical cathode is present at the center and a cylindrical block of copper, is fixed
axially, which acts as an anode. This anode block is made of a number of slots that acts as
resonant anode cavities.
The space present between the anode and cathode is called as Interaction space. The electric
field is present radially while the magnetic field is present axially in the cavity magnetron. This
magnetic field is produced by a permanent magnet, which is placed such that the magnetic lines
are parallel to cathode and perpendicular to the electric field present between the anode and the
cathode.
The following figures show the constructional details of a cavity magnetron and the magnetic
lines of flux present, axially.

This Cavity Magnetron has 8 cavities tightly coupled to each other. An N-cavity magnetron
has NN modes of operations. These operations depend upon the frequency and the phase of
oscillations. The total phase shift around the ring of this cavity resonators should
be 2nπ2nπ where nn is an integer.
If ϕvϕv represents the relative phase change of the AC electric field across adjacent cavities,
then
ϕv=2πn/N

Where n=0,±1,±2,±(N/2−1),±N/2
Which means that N/2 mode of resonance can exist if N is an even number.
If,
n=N/2 thenϕv=π

This mode of resonance is called as π−mode.

n=0thenϕv=0

This is called as the Zero mode, because there will be no RF electric field between the anode
and the cathode. This is also called as Fringing Field and this mode is not used in magnetrons.

Operation of Cavity Magnetron

When the Cavity Klystron is under operation, we have different cases to consider. Let us go
through them in detail.
Case 1
If the magnetic field is absent, i.e. B = 0, then the behavior of electrons can be observed in the
following figure. Considering an example, where electron a directly goes to anode under radial
electric force.
Case 2
If there is an increase in the magnetic field, a lateral force acts on the electrons. This can be
observed in the following figure, considering electron b which takes a curved path, while both
forces are acting on it.

Radius of this path is calculated as

R=mv/eB

It varies proportionally with the velocity of the electron and it is inversely proportional to the
magnetic field strength.
Case 3
If the magnetic field B is further increased, the electron follows a path such as the electron c,
just grazing the anode surface and making the anode current zero. This is called as "Critical
magnetic field" (Bc)(Bc), which is the cut-off magnetic field. Refer the following figure for
better understanding.

Case 4
If the magnetic field is made greater than the critical field,
B>Bc

Then the electrons follow a path as electron d, where the electron jumps back to the cathode,
without going to the anode. This causes "back heating" of the cathode. Refer the following
figure.
This is achieved by cutting off the electric supply once the oscillation begins. If this is
continued, the emitting efficiency of the cathode gets affected.

Operation of Cavity Magnetron with Active RF Field

We have discussed so far the operation of cavity magnetron where the RF field is absent in the
cavities of the magnetron (static case). Let us now discuss its operation when we have an active
RF field.
As in TWT, let us assume that initial RF oscillations are present, due to some noise transient.
The oscillations are sustained by the operation of the device. There are three kinds of electrons
emitted in this process, whose actions are understood as electrons a, b and c, in three different
cases.
Case 1
When oscillations are present, an electron a, slows down transferring energy to oscillate. Such
electrons that transfer their energy to the oscillations are called as favored electrons. These
electrons are responsible for bunching effect.
Case 2
In this case, another electron, say b, takes energy from the oscillations and increases its velocity.
As and when this is done,

 It bends more sharply.

 It spends little time in interaction space.
 It returns to the cathode.

These electrons are called as unfavored electrons. They don't participate in the bunching effect.
Also, these electrons are harmful as they cause "back heating".
Case 3
In this case, electron c, which is emitted a little later, moves faster. It tries to catch up with
electron a. The next emitted electron d, tries to step with a. As a result, the favored
electrons a, c and d form electron bunches or electron clouds. It called as "Phase focusing
effect".
This whole process is understood better by taking a look at the following figure.
Figure A shows the electron movements in different cases while figure B shows the electron
clouds formed. These electron clouds occur while the device is in operation. The charges
present on the internal surface of these anode segments, follow the oscillations in the cavities.
This creates an electric field rotating clockwise, which can be actually seen while performing a
practical experiment.
While the electric field is rotating, the magnetic flux lines are formed in parallel to the cathode,
under whose combined effect, the electron bunches are formed with four spokes, directed in
regular intervals, to the nearest positive anode segment, in spiral trajectories.