English Electric Valve Company Limited

E2v Technologies (uk) Limited

Michael B Brady

Peter Frederick Lewis

Alan H Pickering

Maurice Esterson

Kesar Saleem

John W Kerr

David William Bennett

Archie W Crook

Michael L Goddard

A magnetron includes a decoupling plate located between the end hat of the magnetron cathode and an output coupling member. The use of the decoupling plate presents a high impedance and gives a resonant circuit which is arranged to be resonant at the operating frequency of the magnetron. This prevents or reduces power loss due to capacitive coupling. In another arrangement, the decoupling plate is mounted to a post on the end hat of the magnetron cathode.

Magnetrons

In a magnetron anode, an anode surrounds a central cathode. The anode is of a segmented structure having a plurality of annular segments stacked together along its length. Each annular segment includes a strap, the strap being distributed substantially along the entire axial length of the anode vanes. This enables mode separation to be achieved, even for long anode lengths and, hence, permits high power operation to be achieved. In addition, the segmented structure of the anode gives a mechanically robust design.

Magnetron anodes

A magnetron includes a cathode and vane type anode structure. The frequency of oscillation of a microwave output signal of the magnetron is tunable by means of a tuning member, which is in the form of an annular plate arranged adjacent resonant cavities of the magnetron. The frequency of oscillation is determined by the position of the tuning member relative to the resonant cavities. When it is wished to tune the magnetron output frequency a current is passed along a path defined by the tuning member. This causes axial forces to be exerted on the tuning member so that it moves. Since the current is arranged to pass through the tuning member itself, the device is particularly simple, no actuating mechanisms or drive coils, for example, being necessary.

Magnetron with tuning member moveable by passing current through it

A radar system having a common antenna for transmitting and receiving signals conventionally includes a branch duplexer which is bulky and inconvenient. By using a waveguide section having an antenna port at one end and a receiver port at the other, and including a protection unit comprising p.i.n. diodes these difficulties are reduced. The diodes prevent transmitted energy from a magnetron reaching the receiver port but allow received energy, because of its lower amplitude, to pass.

Microwave transmitting and receiving arrangements

A resonant cavity device--particularly a magnetron oscillator--has a separate resonator coupled to a resonant cavity of the device. The separate resonator consists of a resonant transmission line within which are two multipactor discharge arrangements, one being positioned at a distance along a resonant transmission line which is approximately 3.lambda./4 from the end of the transmission line adjacent the cathode and the other of which is positioned at a distance along the resonant transmission line which is .lambda./4 from the same end of the transmission line. By controlling the multipactor discharges of the multipactor discharge devices appropriately three different frequencies of operation are available.

Multipactor discharge tuned resonant cavity devices

The invention provides a magnetron of the strapped anode type having three strapping members each co-axial but at different diameters from the center of the anode block of the magnetron. The middle strapping member is connected to alternate vanes and the innermost and outermost strapping members are connected to the remaining ones of the anode vanes.

Magnetron having three alternatingly connected straps

A multipactor discharge tuned resonant cavity device, e.g. a magnetron, is irradiated with X-rays in order to assist the starting of the multipactor discharge. The X-rays are produced by electrons striking the surface of the magnetron anode.

X-Ray assisted multipactor discharge tuned resonant cavity device

The invention relates to a resonant cavity device such as a magnetron oscillator which is tunable by means of a tuning plunger associated with sealing bellows. A volume defined at least in part by the bellows and producing a range of spurious responses as the tuning plunger is moved is isolated from the resonant cavity or cavities of the device by an isolating choke. The choke may take the form of an annulus having a major radius of 1/4 .lambda. (where .lambda. is the mid-frequency of the tuning range) attached either to the plunger or to the main body of the device and between the bellows and the resonant cavity or cavities.

Tunable resonant cavities having particular isolating choke

In a vane type magnetron oscillator a resonant co-axial transmission line breaks through the wall of the anode block to couple to two adjacent cavities on either side of a vane. Positioned at a point at which a high radio frequency voltage appears in operation approximately an odd multiple of a quarter wavelength (preferably 3.lambda./4) from the end of the transmission line adjacent the cavities is a multipactor discharge arrangement. This latter consists of two co-axial cylinders one connected to the inner conductor and the other to the outer conductor of said transmission line. The transmission line extends beyond the multipactor discharge arrangement to a total length approximately half wavelength or a multiple thereof and is short circuited at its end.

A multipactor discharge tuned resonant cavity device, e.g. a magnetron, is arranged with two multipactor discharge electrodes so that in a discharge condition a net current flows from one electrode to the other. The net current is used to create a self-bias voltage on one of the electrodes which affects the operating frequency of the device.

Multipactor discharge arrangements

This invention relates to a co-axial magnetron in which a separate resonator incorporating a multipactor discharge arrangement is used to tune the operating frequency of the magnetron. The separate resonator is symmetrically coupled via couplers into the main resonator cavity of the magnetron. More than one separate resonant can be provided, in which case they are symmetrically coupled into the main resonant cavity to achieve correct tuning.

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Maldon, United Kingdom

Michael B Brady