A Millimeter-Wave Klystron Upconverter With a Higher Order Mode Output Cavity

Manufacturing of klystrons in the millimeter-wave frequency range is challenging due to the small size of the cavities and the ratio of the maximum gap voltage to the beam energy. The small dimensions also make difficult to produce devices with the output power required by a number of applications at millimeter wave, such as communications and spectroscopy. Operating with a higher order mode can be a potential solution, as a larger transverse size structure can be used. Unfortunately, high-order mode cavities have a lower impedance than in fundamental mode. In this paper is proposed a novel solution to overcome the reduced impedance by utilizing an upconverter, where all cavities except the output cavity are designed to work in high-order mode. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach, two klystron upconverters were designed. One has six cavities aiming to achieve a maximum output power of ~90 W at 105 GHz. The second klystron upconverter was a simpler three-cavity structure designed for quick prototype. Millimeter-wave measurements of the three-cavity klystron upconverter are presented.