Chaotic wideband microwave oscillations in a hybrid system consisting of a traveling wave tube and a collector oscillator

A novel hybrid microwave device based on a wideband microwave amplifier, a traveling-wave tube, one component of which is a multistage collector oscillator is proposed and experimentally studied. The collector oscillator can form a virtual cathode via deceleration of electrons that exit from the interaction space of the traveling wave tube. It is shown that this device can generate and amplify centimeter-wave chaotic wideband signals. The characteristics of the chaotic signals (spectral composition and total power) generated in different operating modes of the hybrid device are determined. The issue of amplification of the chaotic wideband signal generated with a virtual cathode in the traveling wave tube amplifier is concisely addressed.