Investigation of the effect of helix tape-thickness on the performance of plasma-filled helix traveling-wave tubes

Summary form only given. A linear analysis of plasma-loaded helix traveling-wave tubes is presented by which the effect of helix tape-thickness is incorporated in the analysis using the recently proposed method, the improved helical-harmonics approximation.^1,2 The presented method takes into account various parameters such as the effect of non-uniform plasma and beam density profiles, confining magnetic flux density, helix tape-thickness, supporting rods´ parameters, and potential depression across the beam. Numerical results of the method are compared with those obtained from tape-helix model and also the conventional helical-harmonics approximation. Comparison of the field-theoretic results with ones obtained from one-dimensional Pierce type equations shows good agreement at low space-charge regime, while major departure occurs at high space-charge and non-resonant regimes.