Effect of attenuation on backward-wave oscillation start oscillation condition

In a practical helix traveling-wave tube (TWT), there is always attenuator/sever for suppressing the oscillations, including backward-wave oscillation (BWO). The factors of the influencing BWO include start position of the attenuator, its length, and attenuation quantity. In the event that the attenuator/sever and nonuniformities in the phase velocity and beam potential were considered, a linear theory is employed to analyze BWO start oscillation condition. Numerical results show that the start oscillation length of the TWT decreases when the start position of the attenuator is close to the input section of the slow wave structure (SWS), that Start oscillation current of the output section of the SWS increases as the attenuation length decreasing, or the attenuation quantity increasing or the nonuniformities becoming strong, and that, however, when the phase velocity or beam potential exceeds a particular value, no oscillation condition could be found.