HIGH-POWER MICROWAVE GENERATION
BY VIRTUAL CATHODE OSCILLATOR
Weihua Jiang, Kousuke Kanbara, Syuhei Ohno, Takahiro Yuyama, and Kiyoshi Yatsui
Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan
Abstract
Virtual cathode oscillators (VCO) were studied for
high-power microwave (HPM) generation. Different
configurations of VCO were compared in diode behavior
and microwave output in order to optimize the
performance of VCO as an HPM oscillator. The
experimental results were also compared with numerical
simulation results obtained with particle-in-cell code
“MAGIC”.
I. INTRODUCTION
High power microwave sources are being developed
for applications in plasma heating, particle acceleration,
high-power radar, and many other industrial and military
fields. Among several types of pulsed high-power
microwave generators is the virtual cathode oscillator
(VCO). VCO is considered to be very attractive due to
its high-power capability, frequency tunability, and
device simplicity [1-3].
For many years, studies on VCO have been
concentrated on the efficiency improvement, as the
relatively low efficiency of VCO is considered as a
drawback to its practical applications [4, 5].
In order to improve the microwave efficiency of
VCO, we are developing new configurations of VCO by
both experimental studies and numerical simulations.
This paper presents the recent results on two of recently
investigated VCO configurations.
Configuration A
Figure 1. VCO configurations studied in this research.
0-7803-9189-6/05/$20.00 ©2005 IEEE.
Figure 1 shows the VCO configurations that were
studied in this paper. Both configurations have a
grounded cathode where the anode potential is elevated
by the pulsed power generator. The intent is to reduce
the energy loss carried by the electrons that are absorbed
by the waveguide wall. It is similar to a reflex triode
except that the electron beam is injected in the axial
direction of the cylindrical waveguide.
II. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The experimental setup of the electron beam diode
for both configurations illustrated in Fig. 1 is shown in
Fig. 2. In configuration A, an anode rod holds an anode
mesh in front of the annular cathode. Most of the anode
is transparent to the electrons except to the anode rod.
In configuration B, on the other hand, 3 anode rods holds
an anode ring where a mesh is attached. Here, the
anode mesh is well located and is stretched with tension
by the anode ring. However, the anode ring may
increase the electron capture by the anode.
The experiments were carried out by using repetitive
pulsed power generator “ETIGO-IV” [6]. Figure 3
shows the photograph of “ETIGO-IV”. It is capable of
generating pulsed output of 400 kV, 13 kA, and 150 ns,
at repetition rate of 1 Hz. In the experiments reported in
this paper, “ETIGO-IV” is operated in positive mode and
the electron beam shown in Fig. 2 is located in a
cylindrical waveguide so that the output microwave is
extracted by the waveguide.
Configuration B
58
 Figure 2. Repetitive pulsed power generator “ETIGO-IV”.

Configuration A Configuration B

Figure 3. Experimental setup of VCO configurations shown in Fig. 1.

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Configuration A Configuration B

Figure 4. Typical diode voltage and current waveforms.

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Configuration A Configuration B

Figure 5. Typical waveforms of electron-beam power (Pb) and microwave power (Pm).

A tapered radiator is attached to the waveguide that
irradiates the output microwave into the air before it is
absorbed by absorbers. Horn antennas are located
between the radiator and the absorber. The detected
microwave signals are used for diagnostics on
microwave power, frequency and mode.
The microwave frequency for configuration A was
obtained to be 2 ~ 3 GHz, depending on the diode current,
with dominating microwave mode of TM01. However,
the microwave frequency of 3 ~ 4 GHz was obtained for
configuration B, while the microwave mode is still under
investigation.

III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS IV. NUMERICAL SIMULATION RESULTS

The typical waveforms of the diode voltage and the
diode current are shown in Fig. 4. The peak of the
diode voltage is ~ 400 keV and the diode current reaches
9 kA for configuration A and 7 kA for configuration B,
respectively. The impedance of both VCOs are higher
than the output impedance of “ETIGO-IV”.
Figure 5 shows the electron-beam power and the
output microwave power. In configuration A, the beam
power of ~ 3.6 GW and microwave power of ~ 70 MW
were obtained. In configuration B, they were ~ 3 GW
and ~ 60 MW, respectively. In both cases the
beam-to-microwave conversion efficiency is obtained to
be ~ 2 %.
A simulation code called “MAGIC” has been used to
study different configurations of VCO. It is a
three-dimensional, electromagnetic, relativistic, particle-
in-cell simulation code widely used for studying beams,
plasmas, and electromagnetic fields. The purpose of the
simulation is to study the VCO behavior and its
dependence on the anode configuration.
Configuration A was studied by two-dimensional (z,
r) simulation and configuration B was studied by
three-dimensional (z, r, θ) simulation. The electron
maps obtained in the simulations are shown in Fig. 6.

Configuration A Configuration B

Figure 6. Electron maps obtained by particle-in-cell simulation code “MAGIC”.

60
 Configuration A
Figure 7. Electron maps power and microwave power obtained by simulation.
Figure 7 shows the waveforms of electron-beam
power and output microwave power obtained by the
simulation. The difference between experiment and
simulation in electron-beam power is caused by the
difference in the diode current. The maximum
microwave power obtained in the simulation of
configuration A reaches ~ 200 MW, giving
beam-to-microwave conversion efficiency of ~ 10 %.
The simulation results for configuration B give output
microwave power of ~ 50 MW and efficiency of ~ 3.5 %.
V. SUMMARY
Two of VCO configurations were studied by
experiments and numerical simulations.
1) For configuration A, with diode voltage of 400 kV
and beam current of 9 kA, the experimentally
obtained microwave power was ~ 70 MW, giving
microwave efficiency of ~ 2 %.
2) For configuration B, with diode voltage of 400 kV
and beam current of 7 kA, the experimentally
obtained microwave power was ~ 60 MW, giving
microwave efficiency of ~ 2 %.
61
Configuration B
VI. REFERENCES
[1] D. J. Sullivan, J. E. Walsh, and E. A. Coutsias,
“Virtual cathode oscillator (vircator) theory” in High
Power Microwave Sources, edited by V. Granastein
and I. Alexeff (Artech House, Norwood, 1987), p.
441.
[2] L. E. Thode, “Virtual cathode microwave device
research: experiment and simulation” in High Power
Microwave Sources, edited by V. Granastein and I.
Alexeff (Artech House, Norwood, 1987), p. 508.
[3] J. Benford and J. Swegle, High-Power Microwaves
(Artech House, Boston and London, 1992), Chapter
9.
[4] H. Sze, J. Benford, T. Young, D. Bromley, and B.
Harteneck, “A radially and axially extracted
virtual-cathode oscillator (vircator)”, IEEE
Transactions on Plasma Science, 13, #6, 492-497
(1985).
[5] W. Jiang and M. Kristiansen, “Theory of the virtual
cathode oscillator”, Physics of Plasmas, 8, #8,
3781-3787 (2001).
[6] A. Tokuchi, N. Ninomiya, W. Jiang, and K. Yatsui:
“Repetitive Pulsed-Power Generator “ETIGO-IV””,
IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 30, #5,
1637-1641 (2002).