MMW to upper-MMW vacuum electronics research at NRL

The Vacuum Electronics Branch of the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is actively engaged in research and development of key technologies for high-power MMW to upper-MMW amplifiers. This work includes the development and application of physics-based modeling and simulation tools, the design and development of high-perveance sheet electron beams and associated slow-wave and standing-wave interaction structures, research on high-current-density emitters, and the development and application of precise microfabrication techniques and thermal management schemes. An overview of these activities will be presented, including a discussion of the technological advances required to achieve order-of-magnitude increases in amplifier performance and a summary of the approaches being pursued and their status.