Design and Experiments of the Sheet Electron Beam Transport with Periodic Cusped Magnetic Focusing for Terahertz Traveling-Wave Tubes

The successful transport of a sheet electron beam under the periodic cusped magnet (PCM) focusing at the terahertz frequencies is reported. The sheet beam with a current density of 285 A/cm2 is intended for the developing G-band sheet-beam traveling-wave tube (TWT) whose operating voltage is nominally 24.5 kV. A beamstick was developed to validate the design of the electron optics system, which is considered as the most challenging part for developing a sheet-beam device. A beam transmission ratio of 81% is achieved over a distance of 37.5 mm at a cathode voltage of −25.0 kV. The total current and the collector current were measured to be 125 and 102 mA, respectively. The experimental results are promising, demonstrating that the PCM scheme is capable of focusing a high-current-density sheet beam and hence can find use in the terahertz TWTs, offering the advantages of compact size and light weight.

A New Method to Focus SEBs Using the Periodic Magnetic Field and the Electrostatic Field

In this paper, a novel method, named PM-E, to focus the sheet electron beam (SEB) is proposed. This new method consists of a periodic magnetic field and an electrostatic field, which are used to control the thickness and width of the SEB, respectively. The PM-E system utilizes this electrostatic field to replace the unreliable By,off, which is a tiny transverse magnetic field in the PCM that confines the SEB’s width. Moreover, the horizontal focusing force of the PM-E system is more uniform than that of the conventional PCM, and the transition distance of the former is shorter than that of the latter. In addition, the simulation results demonstrate the ability of the PM-E system to resist the influence of the assembly error. Furthermore, in the PM-E system, the electric field can be conveniently changed to correct the deflection of the SEB’s trajectory and to improve the quality of the SEB.