Highly tunable high average power magnetron

Summary form only given. High average power magnetrons operating in the vicinity of 915 MHz have long been used in many industrial heating applications and have recently been considered for various military applications. Some of these applications, including cases where resonances must be driven, require that the magnetrons be tunable. MRC and CTL are developing a highly tunable magnetron at the /spl sim/75 kW average power level which retains the desirable properties of high efficiency (>80%) and high peak power when pulsed (/spl sim/250 kW). Based upon results from a previous CTL prototype which attained moderate tunability, MRC has designed an improved tuning mechanism which achieves a tuning range approaching 8.5% and, unlike the original tube, is expected to achieve this tuning range at the 250 kW peak power level.