Numerical Investigation of the Relativistic Magnetron Using a Novel Semitransparent Cathode

A semitransparent cathode is proposed for an efficient operation of the relativistic magnetron (RM) with axial extraction. The semitransparent cathode is a kind of shaped cathode. It is achieved using a cylindrical cathode with longitudinal strips removed. The cross section of each removed strip is fan-shaped and all the emit strips are connected in the central area of the cathode. Results of the 3-D particle-in-cell simulations show that the using a semitransparent cathode yields similar performance benefits compared with that using the transparent cathode proposed by the University of New Mexico. Simulation results also show that output characteristics of the RM using the semitransparent cathode are insensitive to the depth and width of each cathode slot. Thus, the semitransparent cathode might be more robust for practical applications.