Small-signal analysis of a rectangular helix structure traveling-wave-tube

Abstract

This paper investigates the properties of traveling wave-beam interaction in a rectangular helix traveling-wave-tube (TWT) for a solid sheet electron beam. The 'hot' dispersion equation is obtained by means of the self-consistent field theory. The small signal analysis, which includes the effects of the beam parameters and slow-wave structure (SWS) parameters, is carried out by theoretical computation. The numerical results show that the bandwidth and the smallsignal gain of the rectangular helix TWT increase as the beam current increases; and the beam voltage not obviously influences the small signal gain. Among different rectangular helix structures, the small-signal gain increases as the width of the rectangular helix SWS increases, however, the bandwidth decreases whether structure parameters a and L or ψ and L are fixed or not. In addition, a comparison of the small-signal gain of this structure with a conventional round helix is made. The presented analysis will be useful for the design of the TWT with a rectangular helix circuit.