Modeling and Simulations of an Input Coupler for a High-Power Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier as a Preliminary Investigation into a Multi-Stream Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier

The University of New Mexico (UNM) is working on developing a multi-stream Traveling Wave Tube (TWT) amplifier. One of the first steps to be taken during the design of a TWT amplifier is to design an input coupler to couple power from a lower power High Power Microwave (HPM) seed source to the slow wave structure (SWS) of the amplifier. In order to aid in the development of a TWT which operates in X-band, multiple options for input couplers have been designed for use in a greater TWT project at UNM. The primary tasks to be addressed with these input coupler designs are: converting HPM in the TE10 propagating mode in a rectangular waveguide to that of a TM01 mode in circular waveguide, and ensuring that this coupling can occur for a sufficient bandwidth for the application. This thesis explores multiple options for input coupler designs as well as exploring some of the concepts behind the ongoing two-stream TWT project.