Models to evaluate magnicon architectures and designs suitable for high-perveance beams

The magnicon, a new high-power, radio frequency (rf) deflection- modulated amplifier, was recently developed at the Institute for Nuclear Physics in Novosibirsk, Russia. The first magnicon achieved a peak output power of 2.6 MW for 50-μs pulses at a frequency of 915 MHz with a dc-to-rf conversion efficiency of 73%. The conversion efficiency achieved by the original magnicon represents a significant improvement over state-of-the-art conventional velocity- and density-modulated devices. Therefore, if properly exploited, the magnicon could substantially reduce the operating expenses of industrial, scientific, and military facilities that require large amounts of rf power. This dissertation describes the operational principles of the magnicon, provides small-signal analytical theory (where practical), presents a large-signal numerical model to characterize magnicon performance, and then utilizes this model to investigate the characteristics of the component magnicon structures. Using these modeling tools, the first-generation magnicon architecture is analyzed for its performance sensitivity to electron-beam size and is found to support beams of only limited diameter. Finally, an alternate magnicon geometry, called a ''uniform-field'' magnicon, is presented and shown to support beams of larger diameter