Electron beam RF amplifier and emitter
OwnerRobert E. LeChevalierinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
RF field is sensed to produce an incoming voltage that drives a microarray of electron guns in a sweep pattern towards a detector array. The electron guns emit a beam current that may amplify the incoming voltage signal, and the detector material may be selected to amplify the beam current at the detector, for example, by avalanche and/or cascade in a Schottky material, to provide a low current, high gain amplification. The microarrays may be arranged in various combinations to produce successive amplifications, frequency multipliers, transmit-receive amplifiers, crossbar switches, mixers, beamformers, and selective polarization devices, among other such devices.
Claims6
A method of amplifying a deflection signal made of one or more voltage signals, the method comprising:
- emitting a plurality of electron beamlets from an array of electron guns such that the beamlets traverse an electron transmission pathway through an evacuated drift cavity defined by an emission wall and a detector wall, each electron beamlet having a corresponding beamlet deflector operably positioned for deflection of the electron beamlet in the drift cavity,
- operating the beamlet deflectors to deflect the respective electron beamlets according to receipt of a deflection signal such that an aggregate of emitted beamlets forms an electron beam positioned relative to the transmission pathway, the electron beam forms a beam spot on the detector wall where
- in a quiescent state of the deflection signal the electron beam is transmitted on the transmission pathway in a non-deflected mode, and
- in a non-quiescent state of the deflection signal the electron beam deflector deflects the electron beam in a swept mode of sweeping action that moves the beam spot along a sweep pathway at the detector wall;
- and
- generating an output current by interaction of the electron beam and a detector forming one or more areas on the detector wall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.