Sheet electron beam millimeter-wave amplifiers at the Naval Research Laboratory

To meet the need to transmit increasingly massive volumes of data, both the defense and commercial sectors are turning to higher operational frequencies to take advantage of larger signal bandwidths while concurrently requiring increased amplifier power to achieve the necessary signal-to-noise ratios over large transmission distances. In response to these needs, the last decade has seen a leap in performance of a variety of millimeter-wave devices. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the principal U.S. Department of Defense R&D center focused on the development of the science and technology behind new millimeter-wave high power solid-state and vacuum electronic devices. Selected examples of NRLs research projects are described with an emphasis on high power millimeter-wave vacuum electronic devices.