Active microwave pulse compressor using an electron-beam triggered switch.

A high-power active microwave pulse compressor is described that operates by modulating the quality factor of an energy storage cavity by means of mode conversion controlled by a triggered electron-beam discharge across a switch cavity. This Letter describes the principle of operation, the design of the switch cavity, the configuration used for the tests, and the experimental results. The pulse compressor produced output pulses with 140-165 MW peak power, record peak power gains of 16∶1-20∶1, and FWHM pulse duration of 16-20 ns at a frequency of 11.43 GHz.