A soft corrugated pyramidal horn antenna for radial power extraction from an A6 magnetron

Magnetrons have been widely used over the years in a variety of high power microwave applications. Their high peak power as well as their compact configuration have made them suitable to airborne and spaceborne communication applications, radar systems as well as heating applications. One of the most common ways to extract microwave power from a magnetron is radially, by coupling the energy from at least one of its cavities to an antenna, through an aperture. Although a lot of the research has been focused on the improvement of the actual magnetron source characteristics, little work on the antenna design can be found in the literature. One antenna commonly used for radial power extraction is the pyramidal horn antenna with smooth walls due to its high power handling capability as well as its simplicity in design. A major drawback of this antenna is that it introduces relatively large side and back lobes in the radiation pattern, which are due to diffraction. These for example can lead to interference issues in communication systems, possible side lobe jamming, and interfering return limitations (clutter) in radar systems.