Physics of spatial-harmonic magnetrons with cold cathode

The conventional notions about the physics of magnetrons do not work in the case of spatial-harmonic magnetrons with cold secondary-emission cathodes. There are several important features differentiating such devices from the conventional magnetrons, including a non-periodicity of space charge structure, coexistence of electron bunches with different periods, multi-stability effects at certain working modes, and the strong influence of non-synchronous harmonics. It has also been shown that the secondary electron emission can be caused by interaction with either the fundamental space harmonic of the RF field or the synchronous one, and that the multi-stability arises when the secondary emission process is governed by the synchronous space harmonic.