Generation of periodic high-power ultrashort pulse sequences in a chain of coupled traveling-wave tubes operating in the regimes of amplification and nonlinear Kompfner suppression

Abstract

We have studied the dynamics of an electron microwave oscillator with a feedback loop containing two coupled traveling-wave tubes, the first operating in the regime of amplification and the second in the regime of nonlinear Kompfner absorption. It is established that oscillations generated in this system can take the form of a periodic sequence of ultrashort pulses. The proposed mechanism of pulse generation is analogous to the well-known method of passive mode locking.