Gigawatt-class radiation of TM01 mode from a Ku-band overmoded Cerenkov-type high power microwave generator

We present the experimental results of a Ku-band overmoded Cerenkov-type high power microwave (HPM) oscillator operated at low guiding magnetic field. A pulsed power accelerator working at a voltage of 740 kV was employed to generate relativistic electron beams with peak current of 9.9 kA, which were guided through the overmoded slow wave structures by an axial magnetic field of around 0.8 T. The investigated Cerenkov-type HPM generator was found to produce microwave pulse with a duration of 24 ns, at a central frequency of 13.76 GHz, and with a power as high as 1.1 GW, corresponding to a power conversion efficiency of about 15%. The operating mode was controlled in quasi-single mode of TM
₀₁
.