Microwave gain in a recirculating planar crossed-field amplifier

The Recirculating Planar Crossed-Field Amplifier (RPCFA) has demonstrated gain of an injected ~20 kW RF signal. The RPCFA concept is adapted from the Recirculating Planar Magnetron (RPM) also developed at the University of Michigan. The device was designed in simulation using Ansys HFSS and verified using the particle-in-cell code, MAGIC. In preliminary experiments, the RPCFA has demonstrated zero-drive stability and produced peak output powers up to 0.3-0.4 MW. The gain is shown to increase with the applied magnetic field, and output power is typically limited to about 0.4 MW, apparently by RF breakdown within the RPCFA SWS. Analysis of the amplified signal shows high spectral purity, with minimal contamination from frequencies other than the 2.84 GHz injected RF signal.