Design and Development of Helix Slow-Wave Structure for Ku-Band TWT

A helix slow-wave structure (SWS) for a high-efficiency (electronic efficiency >; 25%) Ku-band 140-W space traveling-wave tube (TWT) has been designed. The cold circuit parameters of helix SWS, like propagation constant and on-axis interaction impedance, were determined using 3-D electromagnetic field simulators ANSOFT-HFSS and CST-MWS, and those were validated with the experimental results. The in-house developed large-signal code SUNRAY-1D was used to design a complete helix SWS in two sections with sever and taper to achieve desired output power, gain, efficiency, and other linearity parameters like phase shift, AM/PM factor, and I/M components. The simulated RF performance of the Ku-band 140-W helix TWT was validated with the experimental results. A close agreement between the simulated and experimental results has been found.