Traveling-wave tube with a slow-wave circuit on a photonic band gap crystal structures

A printed circuit Traveling-Wave Tube comprising:

• a pair of identical multi-arm slow-wave interaction circuits respectively printed on two identical Photonic Band Gap crystal structures;
• a gridded electron gun assembly including a heater, cathode, grid and at least one accelerating electrode;
• a first set of electrical connections printed on said two identical Photonic Band Gap crystal structures to connect the heater, cathode, grid and accelerating electrodes of said electron gun assembly to a power supply;
• at least two RF input connectors printed on said two identical Photonic Band Gap crystal structures;
• at least two RF output connectors printed on said two identical Photonic Band Gap crystal structures;
• a ground plane surrounding each of said RF input connectors and RF output connectors;
• a depressed collector printed on said two identical Photonic Band Gap crystal structures;
• a second set of electrical connections printed on said two identical Photonic Band Gap crystal structures connected to said depressed collector;
• zig-zag metal spacers between said two identical Photonic Band Gap crystal structures;
• and
• a housing for containing at least said pair of identical multi-arm slow-wave interaction circuits respectively printed on two identical Photonic Band Gap crystal structures.

A printed circuit Traveling-Wave Tube comprising:

• housing means for establishing a vacuum chamber;
• means within said housing means for emitting an electron beam;
• means within said housing means for collecting an electron beam;
• a slow-wave interaction circuit within said housing means in proximity to said electron beam;
• an input connector for coupling microwave energy onto said slow-wave interaction circuit;
• an output connector for coupling microwave energy from said slow-wave interaction circuit;
• a photonic band gap structure within said housing means and having said slow-wave interaction circuit printed thereon;
• said photonic band gap structure comprising a two dimensional, two-layer structure including a plurality of spaced apart sheet metal elements disposed in a uniplaner array, with each sheet metal element having a metal center post depending therefrom which is disposed in a host ceramic base and in contact with a ground plane, and a thin sheet insulator overlaying said sheet metal elements for receiving said printed slow-wave interaction Circuit overlaying thereon;
• and
• said photonic band gap structure having an operable frequency bandgap wherein electromagnetic energy is substantially prevented from passing therethrough whereby a substantial portion of the electromagnetic energy remains in the vicinity of the electron beam to achieve enhanced performance.