Dielectric-Supported Staggered Dual Meander-Line Slow Wave Structure for an E-Band TWT

In this article, a novel dielectric-supported staggered dual-meander-line (DS-SDML) planar slow-wave structure (SWS) is proposed for a traveling wave tube (TWT) working at E-band. The proposed staggered arrangement of meander-lines (MLs) leads to a stronger beam-wave interaction and achieves higher output power as compared to the symmetric arrangement. The input-output couplers have been designed by using staggered stepped double ridge waveguide, to connect the standard E-band rectangular waveguide and the DS-SDML SWS. An attenuator and pitch tapering have been applied to the proposed SWS to suppress the unwanted frequencies and to improve the output power. Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation results show that for an 11.8-kV, 200-mA sheet-beam, the output power can reach 283 W at 75 GHz, with a maximum gain and electronic efficiency of 34.5 dB and 11.9%, respectively.