Generation and growth rates of nonlinear distortions in a traveling wave tube.

The structure of a steady state multifrequency model of a traveling wave tube amplifier is exploited to describe the generation of intermodulation frequencies and calculate their growth rates. The model describes the evolution of Fourier coefficients of circuit and electron beam quantities and has the form of differential equations with quadratic nonlinearities. Intermodulation frequencies are sequentially generated by the quadratic nonlinearities in a series solution of the differential equations. A formula for maximum intermodulation growth rates is derived and compared to simulation results.