Traveling-wave tube cathode life-time measurements

Author

Marques, C.A. ; Motta, C.C.

Author_Institution

Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucl., Sao Paulo, Brazil

Volume

2

fYear

2003

fDate

20-23 Sept. 2003

Firstpage

851

Abstract

An experimental set-up to investigate the life-time of traveling-wave tube thermionic cathodes has been developed and is reported in this paper. The cathode developed is one of the aluminate emitter type. The experimental apparatus to measure the cathode life-time consists of a high voltage power supply, auxiliary circuitries to feed the cathode heater, a grid modulator, a magnetic focusing, and an ultra-high vacuum chamber. For a typical traveling-wave tube operation, with 30 kV of acceleration potential and 3.68 A beam current pulse, a 0.73 μ perveance was found for the electron gun. Up to the present moment 400 h of cathode life-time has been recorded.

Keywords

aluminium compounds; thermionic cathodes; thermionic emission; travelling wave tubes; 3.68 A; 30 kV; 400 h; Ba₃Al₂O₆; BaAl₁₂O₄; Ca₂BaAl₂O₆; TWT; acceleration potential; aluminate cathode; aluminate emitter cathode; beam current pulse; cathode heater; electron gun perveance; grid modulator; high voltage power supply; magnetic focusing; thermionic cathodes; thermionic emission; traveling-wave tube cathode life-time measurement; ultra-high vacuum chamber; Acceleration; Cathodes; Electron tubes; Feeds; Magnetic circuits; Magnetic modulators; Particle beams; Power measurement; Umbilical cable; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave and Optoelectronics Conference, 2003. IMOC 2003. Proceedings of the 2003 SBMO/IEEE MTT-S International

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7824-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IMOC.2003.1242691

Filename

1242691