Experimental observation and characterization of chaos in a driven TWT oscillator with delayed feedback

Summary form only given, as follows. In this paper we report investigations of driven TWT oscillators with delayed feedback as potential sources of wideband, high power, chaotic radiation. We present observations and characterization of chaos when the TWT oscillator is made to operate in a highly nonlinear regime at overdriven feedback. Experimental results on time series as a function of feedback attenuation, phase plots, FFT spectra and Poincare maps, will be presented. The TWT oscillations change when the drive frequency coincides with one of the main frequencies in the chaotic spectra. Varying the drive power changes the chaotic spectral content and oscillation amplitudes. Preliminary investigations and analysis indicate a quasi-periodic route to chaos.