Experimental verification of the mechanisms for nonlinear harmonic growth and suppression by harmonic injection in a traveling wave tube

Understanding the generation and growth of nonlinear harmonic (and intermodulation) distortion in microwave amplifiers such as traveling wave tubes (TWTs), free electron lasers (FELs), and klystrons is of current research interest. Similar to FELs, the nonlinear harmonic growth rate scales with the harmonic number in TWTs. In klystrons, the wave number scaling applies to the nonlinear harmonic bunching and associated nonlinear space-charge waves. Using a custom-modified TWT that has sensors along the helix, we provide the first experimental confirmation of the scaling of nonlinear harmonic growth rate and wave number in TWTs. These scalings of a nonlinearly generated harmonic mode versus an injected linear harmonic mode imply that suppression by harmonic injection occurs at a single axial position that can be located as desired by changing the injected amplitude and phase.