Photonic band gap corrugated slow wave structure for THz sheet-beam vacuum electron devices

The use of photonic band gap (PBG) technology is investigated to alleviate some of the typical issues of vacuum electron devices at terahertz and is shown as particularly suitable for the use of large sheet beams. A full interaction structure including the slow wave structure and the coupler based on a tapered PBG corrugated waveguide is proposed for sheet beam backward wave oscillators (BWO). The case of a 346 GHz BWO is considered.