Gigawatt Microwave Emission From A Relativistic Reflex Triode

Single microwave bursts in X-band of 10-ns duration at gigawatt power levels have been obtained with the relativistic reflex triode. The associated relativistic space-charge oscillations have rich high-frequency content. The dominant radiated modes are determined by gap spacing, beam diameter, and gap voltage. The theory of the collective electron space-charge oscillations and the resultant microwave power spectrum is reviewed and compared with experiment.