The Small Signal Analysis of a Centered Dielectric-Rod Loaded, Arbitrarily-Shaped Helical Groove Traveling-Wave-Tube

Properties of traveling wave-beam interaction in a centered dielectric-rod loaded, arbitrarily-shaped helical groove slow-wave structure (SWS) are investigated for a thin annular electron beam. The “hot” dispersion equation is obtained by means of the self-consistent field theory, and the small signal analysis is carried out including the effects of the dielectric-rod parameters and the groove shapes. The numerical results show that the bandwidth of the helical groove TWT is expanded by loading dielectric-rod, however, the small-signal gain is reduced; and when the groove shape changes from the swallow-tail shape to the triangle shape, the working frequency increases , while the peak gain decreases.