100 MW active X-band pulse compressor

It is widely accepted that microwave pulse compressors are required to achieve the high power and short pulse lengths for high-gradient linear accelerators. An active pulse compressor has been developed that is able to provide output pulses of at least 100 MW power with pulse duration of 100 ns at X band, and with a power gain of 12-15. The compressor is being evaluated using 1-1.5 /spl mu/sec pulses from the Omega-P/NRL 11.424 GHz magnicon being operated at NRL. This paper describes design of the compressor and the magnicon-compressor microwave circuit, and gives first experimental results from low power tests.