A ladder circuit coupled-cavity TWT at 80-100 GHz

The radar, electronic warfare and communications industries will benefit from the recent development of a new family of coupled-cavity traveling wave tubes. The new tubes, given the generic name of MILLITRONS can now provide these industries with affordable and available devices for high power millimeter wave transmitters. Conventional techniques for manufacturing coupled-cavity traveling wave tubes become impractical for millimeter wave frequencies because of extremely tight tolerances. The ladder is a new circuit which eliminates cumulative errors of stacked tubes by a method of simultaneously machining cavities of a circuit. The MILLITRON uniquely incorporates ladder technology in the development of millimeter wave devices. A recent accomplishment is a 100 W CW coupled-cavity traveling wave tube operating from 80 to 100 GHz.