Origins of saturation in a traveling wave tube

Power saturation in traveling wave tubes (TWT), induced by the non-linearity of electron-wave interaction, limits the efficiency of such amplifiers, and distorts amplified signals. The origin of this saturation has been widely investigated, and many ways have been explored to limit the saturation. A Lagrangian model to study the different aspects of power saturation and phase dispersion in TWTs is presented here. This work contributes to the understanding of saturation and phase distortion in TWTs. It underlines the first order role of inertial saturation, whose origin lies in the intrinsic non-linearity of electron/wave interactions.