Phase Locking and Mode Switching in a Backward-Wave Oscillator With Reflections

For a relativistic backward-wave oscillator (RBWO), various nonstationary phenomena, such as irregular transients, mode competition, self-modulation, and chaos, are typical. Phase locking by injection of the external signal helps to minimize transient times and to stabilize a single-frequency regime of operation. In this paper, phase locking of an RBWO with end reflections is considered. The results of time-domain numerical modeling are presented, which reveal an intricate pattern of the phase-locked operation. In particular, a possibility of rapid frequency switching by RF priming is demonstrated.