Historical Developments and Recent Advances in High-power Magnetron: A Review
Patibandla Anilkumar, Pamu Dobbidi, Tapeshwar Tiwari
Abstract
The cavity resonator is an efficient and compact high-power microwave (HPM) source. These HPM sources have applications in radar, medical science, communications, agriculture, industrial heating, non-destructive testing (NDT), and food processing systems. Various magnetrons with discrete designs emerged depending on the structure type, desired output power, and desired frequency. Continuous-wave (CW) magnetrons are being used for industrial purposes, and pulse magnetrons are used for linear accelerator (linac) devices. High power pulse magnetron is an efficient microwave source used in medical science to treat cancer. It is also used in space and defence applications for NDT. A drastic change in the development of magnetron and various advances came across to enhance efficiency, improve performance, and increase the operating power. The main objective of this study is to present an overview of the development of high-power magnetron and its subparts from 1869 to today. In the last three decades, substantial growth in the technological advancements of pulse magnetron has taken place. This study focuses on significant advances in strapping, coupling, frequency tuning, phase locking, frequency narrowing bandwidth, magnetic priming effects, cascading magnetrons, terahertz magnetrons, and software development.