Expendable microwave countermeasures (xmcm) systems will be required to protect ships and other high value equipments and installations from active missiles and anti-radiation missiles (arm). traveling wave tubes are used as the microwave power amplifier and are the critical component which… More

Star microwave has designed a space gun which is based on the use of the spindt thin film field emission cathode developed by sri. a two inch diameter electron beam is made up of an hexagonal array of 100 round beamlet which are produced by field emission from a single wafer. each beamlet carries… More

The objective of this investigation is to substantially extend the useful peak and average current obtainable from oxide coated cathodes. present day oxide cathodes are limited to less than 1 amp/cm2 cw and 6 amps/cm2 pulsed. the only viable alternative at higher current density is the far more… More

Star microwave has developed a new contra-wound helix derived high power twt interaction circuit which can be produced for a fraction of the cost of existing coupled cavity circuits. initial cold tests indicate that the circuit will provide up to twice the gain per wavelength an defficiency of… More

The objective of this project is to demonstrate and validate designs and fabrication techniques which will lead to a second generation ij band pulsed lcx (low cost expendable) twt which can be made to sell for under $2500. low cost features include an oxide cathode in a gun which is based on a crt… More

The objective of this research project is to demonstrate and validate the use of a bake-out activated "micropump" as a means of extending the shelf life of twts to at least 5 years. features of the "micropump" include: 1) bake-out activated - no special processing or power supply required. 2)… More