REVIEW OF HIGH-POWER MICROWAVE SOURCE RESEARCH

This article reviews the state-of-the-art in high-power microwave sour ce research. It begins with a discussion of the concepts involved in c oherent microwave generation. The main varieties of microwave tubes ar e classified into three groups, according to the fundamental radiation mechanism involved: Cherenkov, transition, or bremsstrahlung radiatio n. This is followed by a brief discussion of some of the technical fun damentals of high-power microwave sources, including power supplies an d electron guns. Finally, the history and recent developments of both high-peak power and high-average power sources are reviewed in the con text of four main areas of application: (1) plasma resonance heating a nd current drive; (2) rf acceleration of charged particles; (3) radar and communications systems; and (4) high-peak power sources for weapon s-effect simulation and exploratory development. (C) 1997 American Ins titute of Physics. [S0034-6748(97)01511-6].