elds by factors ranging from 10 to 1000 (shielding factors

ranging from 0.100 to 0.001), thus eliminating problems

with stray or unwanted magnetic elds.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. IEEE Standard Dictionary of Electrical and Electronics
Terms, ANSI Std 100-1997, 6th ed., IEEE, New York, 1997.
2. L. Hasselgren and J. Luomi, Geometrical aspects of magnetic
shielding at extremely low frequencies, IEEE Trans. Elect-
romagn. Compat. 37:409420 (1995).
3. R. B. Schulz, V. C. Plantz, and D. R. Brush, Shielding theory
and practice, IEEE Trans. Electromagn. Compat. 30:187201
(1988).
4. J. F. Hoburg, Principles of quasistatic magnetic shielding with
cylindrical and spherical shields, IEEE Trans. Electromagn.
Compat. 37:547579 (1995).
5. T. Rikitake, Magnetic and Electromagnetic Shielding, Reidel,
Boston, 1987.
6. R. M. Bozorth, Ferromagnetism, IEEE Press, Piscataway, NJ,
1993 Reprint.
7. A. P. Wills, On the magnetic shielding effect of trilamellar
spherical and cylindrical shells, Phys. Rev. IX(4):193243 (1899).
8. J. F. Hoburt, A computational methodology and results for
quasistatic multilayered magnetic shielding, IEEE Trans.
Electromagn. Compat. 38:92103 (1996).
9. R. C. Weast, ed., Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 56th
ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 19751976.
10. S. A. Schelkunoff, Electromagnetic Waves, Van Nostrand, New
York, 1943.
11. D. A. Miller and J. E. Bridges, Review of circuit approach to
calculate shielding effectiveness, IEEE Trans. Electromagn.
Compat. EMC-10:5262 (1968).
12. P. P. Silvester and R. L. Ferrari, Finite Elements for Electrical
Engineers, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 1983.
13. S. R. Hoole, Computer-Aided Analysis and Design of Electro-
magnetic Devices, Elsevier Science, New York, 1989.
14. R. F. Harrington, Field Computation by Moment Methods,
Macmillan, New York, 1968.
15. K. C. Lim et al., Integral law descriptions of quasistatic mag-
netic eld shielding by thin conducting plate, IEEE Trans.
Power Deliv.12:16421650 (1997).
MAGNETRONS
JOHN M. OSEPCHUK
Concord, Massachusetts
THOMAS E. RUDEN
1
Newton Highlands,
Massachusetts
1. INTRODUCTION
The magnetron is an unique surviving example of an elec-
tron tube, or vacuum-electronic device, in the modern age
of RF and microwave semiconductor devices. Its definition
is complicated in historical length (back to 1921) and
breadth, types, and derived devices. In this review the
term magnetron usually connotes a source (oscillator) of
microwave power, where microwave is used to designate
frequencies between roughly 300 MHz and 300GHz. Prac-
tical application is dominated by its use in the microwave
oven, although a significant number of other military and
industrial applications remain.
In the IEEE dictionary (1997 edition), magnetron is
dened as An electron tube characterized by the interac-
tion of electrons with the electric eld of a circuit element
in crossed steady electric and magnetic elds to produce
alternating current power output. If alternating cur-
rent is replaced by RF/microwave, then this definition is
roughly equivalent to the one used here with some further
caveats. The IEEE definition would apply to ampliers as
well as oscillators. Also, a strict reading would allow its
application to a possible class of cyclotron resonance de-
vices, which would not generally be termed as magnet-
rons. If the interaction mechanism is restricted to the
class of velocity synchronism, then the IEEE definition
would be apt. It should be noted that in modern technology
the term magnetron also applies to devices not covered
by the IEEE definition but that demonstrably are derived
from the basic elements of the magnetron, which are de-
picted in Fig. 1. A uniform static magnetic eld B is ap-
plied parallel to a cylindrical (generally) cathode, of radius
r
c
, which is an effective emitter of electrons when a voltage
V
a
is applied between the concentric anode, of radius r
a
,
and the cathode, with conventional polarity. Axial con-
nement of the electrons is achieved by the presence of
end shields or end hats, which are attached to the cathode
as depicted in Fig. 1, where the distance between end
shields is denoted as L. The anode electrode, of height H in
the axial direction, could be merely a solid (generally cop-
per) block, in which case the term magnetron diode is
used. Alternatively the anode could be made of a circuit, or
periodic structure for the purpose of achieving interaction
of circuit and electron cloud. The cathode is shown as a
uniform cylindrical tube heated by an internal lament
(usually tungsten) and thus dubbed an indirectly heated
cathode. Alternatively, which is the case for most magnet-
rons in power applications, the cathode itself could be
directly heated when it itself consists of a tungsten (or
thoriated tungsten) helix or coil.
r
m
2r
c
(a) (b)
Pole piece
End shield
Anode
structure
2r
a
L H
Figure 1. Basic structure of a magnetron: (a) midplane cross
section; (b) longitudinal cross section through axis.
1
Section 3,5, and 7 were contributed by Thomas E. Ruden.
2482 MAGNETRONS
Previous Page
The schematic of Fig. 1 applies not only to the magnet-
ron diode and magnetron oscillator but also to a number of
derived devices not discussed in detail here. These include
the vac-ion pump, Penning discharge tubes in which the
cathode is reduced only to endplates and planar magnet-
rons used for sputtering and thin-lm deposition in the
semiconductor industries. Furthermore, even within the
class of microwave oscillators there are variations such as
the inversion (spatial) of cathode and anode as well as
special experimental devices in which the polarity of volt-
age is reversednamely, with an interacting periodic
structure at or near cathode potential and a positive an-
ode with or without a periodic structure. Ground is at ei-
ther cathode or anode potential.
2. EARLY HISTORY
In 1921, Dr. A. W. Hull of the General Electric Company
published a paper [1] on the magnetron, as depicted in
Fig. 1. He studied its basic properties as an electron tube.
The key concept he presented was that of the cutoff con-
dition, or the boundary of parameters that permit electron
ow from cathode to anode and those that do not permit
electron ow. This condition was given by the following
formula for the Hull cutoff voltage V
ac
:
V
ac
Z=8B
2
r
a

2
1 r
c
=r
a

2
1
where MKS units are used, and Z e/m, the ratio of elec-
tron charge to mass, 1.76 10
11
C/kg (coulombs per kilo-
gram). Neglecting space charge effects and any axial
motion (i.e., an assumption of axial uniformity), then, at
voltages greater than the cutoff value, an electron will ow
directly from cathode to anode, albeit with a curved tra-
jectory, the more so as the magnetic eld is increased or
voltage decreased. Just at the cutoff condition an electron
will just graze the anode and return to the cathode, the-
oretically with zero energy that with which it began its
trajectory. At anode voltage below the cutoff value the
electron trajectories will be conned to some limiting ra-
dius r
m
, whose value is less than r
a
and goes to r
c
with
decreasing voltage (see the trajectory depicted in Fig. 1).
In the preWorld War II era, little attention was given
to the linear version of magnetron devices, but it is useful
at this point to point out the simple relation that ensues
for cutoff and trajectories in the linear case where r
c
and r
a
go to innity and dr
a
r
c,
the space between cathode
and anode in the linear case. One nds the following for
the cutoff voltage in the linear case:
V
ac
ZBd
2
=2 2
As shown by Harman [2] after World War II (WWII), the
linear case provides a simpler and more easily expressed
picture of electron motion, space charge effects, and inter-
action mechanisms. Thus in crossed elds (a two-dimen-
sional view), E and B, it is found that in general, the
average drift velocity of an electron is given by the simple
ratio
v E=B 3
and in some cases the trajectory then is a straight line
perpendicular to both eld directions, with spatial con-
ventions corresponding to a right-hand rule coming from
the underlying vector relation vEB/|B
2
|. In general
when the elds are uniform, there will be superimposed on
this average drift a quasicycloidal component. For the case
where this additional component is cycloidal, the radius of
this orbital motion is
r E=Bo
c
4
where o
c
ZB is the cyclotron frequency corresponding to
the magnetic eld B. Then, if E is the eld between two
plates with anode voltage equal to the cutoff value (3), Eqn.
(4) reduces to r d/2 or the case of a cycloidal trajectory
between cathode and anode at the grazing condition.
More sophisticated later analyses of magnetrons with
the static effect of space charge addressed, for example, by
Brillouin [3], found that the cutoff relations (1) and (2) re-
main valid even when space charge is accounted for, at
least in the simplest models. In the popular (and neglect-
ing small effects such as axial motion and magnetic eld
created by the rotating space charge) single-stream model
of Brillouin the electron trajectories in the linear case are
straight lines parallel to the electrodes and in the cylin-
drical case circles outside of the cathode. It is found that
whatever the space charge distribution r(r) is, the poten-
tial distribution in the space charge must satisfy the re-
lation
Vr!ro
c

2
1 r
2
c
=r
2

2
=8Z 5
and for the single-stream model the equality applies at
radii less than r
m
, the outer limit of the space charge hub.
Thus the anode voltage associated with hub radius r
m
is
V
a
o
2
c
r
2
m
=8Z1 r
2
c
=r
2
m

1 2 ln r
a
=r
m
1 r
2
c
=r
2
m
4ln r
a
=r
m
r
2
c
=r
2
m

6
and the space charge density r
0
in the hub is
r
0
e
0
o
2
c
=2Z1 r
4
c
=r
4
7
where e
0
is the dielectric permittivity of free space, 8.86
10
12
F/m (farads per meter). The square of the velocity of
an electron at radius r is
rdy=dt
2
2ZVr o
2
c
r
2
=41 r
2
c
=r
2

2
8
For the linear case, relations (5)(8) simplify to the fol-
lowing, respectively, where x is the distance above the
lower cathode electrode and x
m
denotes the upper bound-
ary of the space charge slipping stream:
Vx!o
c
x
2
=2Z 9
V
a
d=x
m
o
c
x
m

2
=2Z 10
r
0
e
0
o
2
c
=Z 11
vx
2
o
c
x
2
12
MAGNETRONS 2483
Thus the velocity at the upper edge of the stream x
m
is
always greater by a factor of 2 than the velocity of an
electron without space charge (i.e., o
c
x
m
vs. o
c
x
m
/2).
Before WWII the understanding of magnetron space
charge did not go much beyond this description with the
question of instability and chaos still far in the future for
consideration. Nevertheless considerable progress was
made in experimental production of magnetron oscilla-
tions. At that time these were divided into three categories:
1. Cyclotron Frequency Oscillations. In almost any mag-
netron device evidence of such oscillations can be perceived.
In the 1930s various studies showed such oscillations re-
gardless of whether the anode was solid or segmented. The
most dramatic report was the production of usable power
(for scientific studies) at 50GHz [4] with powers up to
100Wat low frequencies below 1GHz. In most cases it was
believed that the oscillation was optimum near the cutoff
condition where phase sorting could remove unfavorable
electrons. This type of oscillation was not pursued much,
although it could be considered a precursor of the oscilla-
tion type in the modern gyrotron (see GYROTRON article).
2. Negative-Resistance Oscillations. This type oscilla-
tion occurred when the magnetic eld was very high (i.e.,
o
c
bo). In this case studies by Kilgore [5] showed favor-
able electrons performing many gyrations or cycles (at cy-
clotron frequency) during the transit from cathode to
anode. Some commentators suggest that this type is a
special case of the more general traveling wave oscilla-
tions, but in any case applied only to low frequency. More
recently, however (see theoretical discussions in Section 5)
it appears that there may be some relevance to interaction
in relativistic magnetrons.
3. Traveling-Wave Oscillations. For many years before
World War II many investigators succeeded in producing
oscillations in magnetrons where the anode was segment-
ed for example, into two, four, six, eight, or more seg-
ments and various circuits connected to these segments.
The theories were not sufcient, but there slowly was an
appreciation of the concept of velocity synchronism in
which electrons when moving at the same speed as a trav-
eling wave can become phase focused in such a way as to
deliver energy to the wave. As depicted in Fig. 2, such a
wave that can travel around the anode or interaction
space is a slow wave supported by periodic structures
[6,7]. From the principle that electrons in crossed elds
move perpendicular to the E eld, one can see that certain
favorable electrons move toward the anode and give up
energy. At the same time unfavorable electrons move a
limited distance toward the cathode and possibly gain
some energy, which then trigger backbombardment of the
cathode, heating and secondary electron emission to add
to the presumed thermionic emission. If the circuit, as well
as the electron ow, is reentrant, as in the cylindrical
magnetron, then oscillations can and should build up.
As documented by Harvey, Guerlac, and others [8,9], all
the activity before 1940 resulted in many papers showing
traveling-wave oscillations but mostly with modest power
of watts up to 100W and predominantly at low frequency
below 1GHz. The real breakthrough credited as the birth
of the microwave magnetron was done in the United King-
dom in response to urgent wartime needs for radarspar-
ticularly search and re control. Boot and Randall [10,11]
are credited with this work, which demonstrated the fea-
sibility of generating watts of average power and tens of
kilowatts peak power (with microsecond pulses) at high
frequencies, around 3GHz (S band) with good efciency:
1050% The importance of this cavity magnetron in win-
ning the war for the United Kingdom and the United
States has been well documented [9,12]. Important fea-
tures introduced by Boot and Randall included the recog-
nition that multiple resonators in a copper block could
yield the high Q (low loss) important for extension of per-
formance to higher frequencies (important for radar reso-
lution, etc.). Years later, some decry [13] the credit
uniquely given to the British for this development while
not recognizing the prior reports of magnetron oscillations
in Russia, Germany, Japan, and France. But it has been
explained in rebuttal [13] that only when the British dem-
onstrated the breakthrough levels of power at high fre-
quencies was there practical recognition of its importance.
Indeed, history [9,12] records the dramatic program to
manufacture in large quantity the magnetrons need by the
Allies in World War II. (It is ironic that various reports [14]
state that in Germany governmental policies in the 1930s
and early 1940s had prevented the concentrated attention
to high frequencies, which triggered the British milestone.)
An immense amount of research and development on
the cavity magnetron for military applications took place
during World War II, and unclassied documentation was
possible only after then. Concerning the magnetron, that
work is described in Volume 8 [15] of the celebrated Ra-
diation Laboratory series of books on radar, microwave
technology, and the various associated components such
as the magnetron and other devices. As described by Col-
lins [15], many physicists contributed greatly to the the-
ories and experimental magnetron development between
1940 and 1946, and even a bit later. Here we will only
summarize the key theoretical principles and experimen-
tal results codied during the war effort.
Figure 2. Depiction of RF interaction electric elds in a mag-
netron.
2484 MAGNETRONS
The copper anode structures consisting of an even num-
ber of vanes, or variously shaped resonators were analyzed
as reentrant periodic structures with principal modes n
0 N/2 where N is the number of vanes or resonators.
For a given mode n there would be 2n half-wave fringing
elds as depicted in Fig. 2. It was soon found that the best
mode of operation was that of the p mode with 1801 phase
shift between adjacent resonators or cavities and hence n
N/2. Also it was found that a strapping technique was
very effective in providing mode separation, allowing
stable magnetron operation in that mode.
Key concepts of instability voltage and threshold
voltage were developed [15] by many led by Buneman and
Hartree, respectively. The more useful concept is the lat-
ter, which describes the minimum voltage at which cur-
rent can be drawn for a given mode. The Hartree voltage
was given by
V
H
oBr
2
a
r
2
c
=2n1 o=no
c
13
where n is the mode number corresponding to the number
of periods or wavelengths of the eld pattern in the inter-
action space from the anode structure. In almost all cases
the value of n is for the p mode or nN/2, where N is the
number of vanes, cavities, or resonators. For the linear
case the Hartree voltage becomes
V
H
oBd=b o
2
=2Zb
2
14
where b 2p/l is the phase parameter for the interacting
slow wave where l is its wavelength or period along the
direction of electron or beam ow.
It can be shown that at the Hartree condition in the
cylindrical magnetron the azimuthal velocity of the out-
ermost electrons in the space charge hub, is greater than
the corresponding azimuthal velocity of the interacting
slow wave. This signies that extra energy must be avail-
able for the electrons as they drift radially out from the
hub, requiring a continuously increasing azimuthal veloc-
ity if the electrons are to stay synchronized with the ro-
tating wave. One speaks of the bunched electron spokes
rotating in synchronism with the rotating wave.
For the linear case, however, it can be seen that the
voltage for synchronism (or velocity resonance) is the
same as the Hartree voltage. Once in synchronism at the
outer edge of the sheath of electrons, the electrons or
spokes require no increase in velocity along the y direction
as they move toward the anode, in the x direction.
We have described the basic concepts underlying the
modern microwave magnetron. Later we review practical
designs, the use of the performance chart and Rieke di-
agram to describe the magnetron operating results and
the actual results achieved in the eld during and since
World War II. For the most part the magnetron circuit
(anode) represents a resonant circuit. Its characterization
is required before the full electron cloudcircuit interac-
tion is understood as to its dependence on the load where
the output power is delivered and the portrayal of same on
the Rieke diagram namely, power and frequency data
plotted on the classical Smith chart (see SMITH CHART).
3. MICROWAVE MAGNETRONS
3.1. Synopsis of Magnetron and Crossed-Field Amplier
Development
PreWorld War II magnetrons were of the so-called split-
anode type [16]. A resonant circuit was formed by coupling
the anode segments to a short-circuited Lecher wire trans-
mission line. Operating in the VHF and UHF regions,
these magnetrons produced continuous-wave (CW) power
of hundreds of watts and could be mechanically tuned over
a wide range of frequencies. Short transit time of the elec-
trons from cathode to anode was necessary to obtain ef-
ciencies of 60% and was achieved by the use of a strong
magnetic eld. Split-anode magnetrons were employed in
the early 1940s primarily in radar and UHF electronic
countermeasures. It was not practical to use this type of
device as a source of high power at microwave frequencies
because of the power dissipated in the anode and cathode,
and the high magnetic eld requirement. However, oper-
ation at lower magnetic eld and with anodes consisting of
multiple electrodes led Posthumous [17] to develop the
concept of traveling-wave interaction between the elec-
trons and the RF electric elds developed in the interac-
tion space between cathode and anode. The electrons
executed long transit-time orbits, allowing the electrons
to efciently transfer energy from the DC eld directly
into microwave energy. Traveling-wave interaction formed
the basis for the design of high-power, high-frequency
magnetrons.
A detailed and descriptive discussion of magnetron de-
velopment during World War II and the subsequent de-
velopment of the crossed-eld amplier (CFA) is given in a
paper by Brown on the microwave magnetron and its de-
rivatives [18]. Design and performance features of World
War II magnetrons are described in a Bell Laboratories
paper by Fisk et al. [19], and an MIT Radiation Laboratory
Series text edited by Collins [15].
A synopsis of the early magnetron design and its role in
crossed-eld amplier development is presented below.
Particular crossed-eld devices and their performance fea-
tures are described that inuence modern design and
applications of magnetrons and crossed-eld ampliers.
3.2. Early Magnetron Design Features that Inuence Modern
Tube Design
High pulsed power was required at microwave frequencies
to meet radar-ranging requirements. In 1939, a compact,
mechanically and thermally robust hole and slot anode
magnetron resonator was invented. The anode resonator
is shown in Fig. 3. Early models of the magnetron em-
ployed a large-diameter oxide-type cathode to obtain the
necessary electron emission current densities for high
power operation. These tubes eventually developed peak
power of 100 kWat 10 cm wavelength. However, the anode
structure consisting of coupled resonators had multiple
resonant frequencies that interfered with the desired os-
cillation frequency. This problem was resolved by modify-
ing the anode circuit with the addition of metallic
conductors called straps. Figure 4 shows a typical
MAGNETRONS 2485
early magnetron. The letter I identies the interaction
space between the cathode C and the anode A. The anode
resonators are shown as R, and coupling between resona-
tors is increased by the straps S shown electrically con-
necting alternate resonator cavities. The loop L connected
to the end of a coaxial transmission line couples power
from the resonator cavity. A second strap, not shown, con-
nects the remaining resonators. Dual strapping was ap-
plied to either one end or to both ends of the anode. The
effect of strapping was to lower the desired operating fre-
quency and to displace potentially interfering frequencies
well above the operating frequency.
Based on the early development work, the design of the
anode resonator circuit was modied to include the vane
and the slot (wedge) congurations shown in Fig. 5. Both
these designs could be strapped as discussed above.
The manufacturing process for the anode block in-
volved machining of OFHC (oxygen-free high-conduc-
tivity) copper. This process was time-consuming and
costly. An alternate procedure used stamped copper lami-
nations that could be stacked and brazed together with
high-conductivity solders. This process was employed for
production of tubes with wavelengths of 10-cm tubes and
higher. Tubes operating at low wavelength still required
machining to meet required tolerances.
Strapped anodes were difcult to fabricate at wave-
lengths shorter than 10 cm. The strapped anode was re-
placed by the unstrapped rising sun anode shown in Fig. 6.
The rising-sun anode provided adequate frequency sepa-
ration and could be fabricated at mm wavelengths by us-
ing a technique called hobbing, in which a machine tool
is driven into a block of copper to create the rising-sun
anode shape.
A large number of xed-frequency and mechanically
tuned magnetrons that incorporated anodes of various de-
signs [15,19] were developed during WWII and oscillated
at wavelengths ranging from 40 cm to 10 mm.
Figure 3. Hole and slot magnetron anode.
R
S
I
A
C
L
Figure 4. Cross-sectional viewof typical hole and slot magnetron
anode with straps. (Reproduced from Microwave Magnetrons,
G.B. Collins, Ed., McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., NY, 1948.)
Figure 5. Magnetron anode: (a) vane and (b) slot (wedge).
2486 MAGNETRONS
3.3. Magnetron Tuning Techniques
It was recognized early that tuning of the magnetron was
essential for military applications, which required fre-
quency diversity for jamming and general radar applica-
tions, including FM altimeters. Tuning was achieved
mechanically, electronically, and by voltage tuning [20].
Mechanical tuning involves changing the inductance or
capacitance of the anode resonant circuit. This method
typically provides a 10% tuning range prior to having
mode interference. Nominal shift of frequency can also be
obtained either by changing the load impedance of the
magnetron or by coupling an external tunable cavity to
one or more magnetron cavities.
Avariety of other techniques have been used to provide
tuning and frequency agility of the magnetron. These in-
clude electron-beam tuning of the resonators, change of
the permeability of ferrite-loaded transmission lines cou-
pled to the resonators, change of the electrical length of
transmission lines coupled to the resonators by means of a
multipactor discharge, and piezoelectric tuning [20]. A few
examples of magnetron tuning are discussed below.
3.3.1. Voice Coil Tuning Reed. This approach was rst
incorporated into a low power CW magnetron for use as a
frequency-modulated CW radar altimeter. This magnet-
ron is the C-band, 42684350-MHz, 1.5-W RK6177 mag-
netron, which is frequency-modulated at a 300Hz rate by
a vibrating reed driven by a voice coil mechanism [21].
Another device using a voice coil is the frequency-agile
MG5272 Ku-band, pulsed coaxial magnetron. This 50-kW
peak, 50-W-average power device has a tuning range of
350MHz and a tuning rate of 700Hz [22].
3.3.2. Multipactor-Tuned Magnetron. Strapped-vane
magnetrons have employed one or more external cavities
coupled to individual anode resonators to provide tuning
[23]. A modication of this technique is to employ a
coaxially tuned circuit inductively coupled to the mag-
netron having a capacitive section in which an electron
discharge is created between the inner and outer coaxial
conductors [24]. RF power coupled from the magnetron
excites an electron multipactor discharge within the
capacitor volume. The effect of the discharge is to reduce
the capacity of this section by about 11%. Magnetron
power loss due to the discharge is 510%. An X-band
multipactor-tuned magnetron MG5286 operates at 22.5kW
with an efciency of 34%. The tuning range is 9265
9315MHz [25].
3.4. Coaxial Magnetron and Methods of Tuning
The development of the coaxial magnetron by Feinstein
and Collier [26] has had a major impact on the upgrade of
commercial and military radars because of its improved
spectrum and operational life as compared to the strapped
magnetron. In addition, advanced tuning techniques have
been applied to this device, further enhancing its overall
capability. The coaxial magnetron generally has larger
size and weight than does the strapped magnetron to
achieve a given power level.
The improved performance was obtained by symmetri-
cally coupling the unstrapped magnetron anode resona-
tors to a TE
011
mode cavity having a low RF loss. The
unloaded Q of the composite anode and cavity is approx-
imately 4 times that of the strapped magnetron, which is a
key factor in achieving improved spectrum. Symmetric
coupling of the cavity and anode resonators ensured that
the anode resonators were excited in the pi mode. The co-
axial magnetron structure also has lower power density as
compared to the strapped magnetron, thus reducing the
tendency for arcing, which affects the performance of high-
peak-power magnetrons. A concise description of the
coaxial magnetron and performance features is provided
by Gerard [27]. The design and performance of a 3-MW
S-band coaxial magnetron incorporating mode perturba-
tion techniques to achieve wide tuning range is discussed
by Ruden [28], and a eld analysis was developed for the
mode spectrum of the coaxial magnetron that shows sim-
ilarity to the mode spectrum of the rising-sun magnetron
[29]. The coaxial magnetron has played a major role in the
upgrade of existing radars in providing improved spec-
trum characteristics, enhanced reliability during opera-
tion, and exceptionally long operational life. The coaxial
magnetron has a number of features that suggest that it
may perform well at the multimegawatt/gigawatt peak
power level. Preliminary work on development a 100-MW
relativistic positive anode coaxial magnetron is described
in Section 7 on technological developments.
Various methods of tuning the coaxial magnetron are
described by Gerard [30]. Slow, motor-driven, mechanical
tuning is used to set the magnetron center frequency. A
separate motor connected to the cavity tuning plunger is
used to dither the frequency. At K band the coaxial mag-
netron is capable of a frequency excursion of 300 MHz at a
dither rate of 150Hz.
Other coaxial magnetrons employ a servocontrolled
mechanism to provide accurate and fast frequency re-
sponse to a variety of input tuning waveshapes, and vari-
able-frequency excursion and tuning rate [31].
Figure 6. Rising-sun anode.
MAGNETRONS 2487
3.5. Cathode and Magnet Design
3.5.1. Cathode Design. A variety of cathodes have been
used in the magnetron and crossed-eld amplier. The
cathode is located directly in, and is integral to, the inter-
action space, which places unusual design constraints on
the cathode. The DCRF crossed-eld interaction results
in a percentage of the emitted electrons being returned to
the cathode. The kinetic energy of these returning elec-
trons is greater than the thermal energy of the emitted
electrons. This is known as backbombardment of the
cathode, and produces three effects:
1. There is heating of the cathode surface due the en-
ergy of the backbombarding electrons, which can re-
sult in a significant temperature rise of the cathode.
In some magnetrons and CFAs, a precisely con-
trolled change in the heater voltage is required to
restore cathode to its original temperature.
2. Depending on the cathode materials, the electron
energy may be enough to produce secondary elec-
trons that contribute to the current delivered by the
cathode.
3. Depending on the cathode materials and electronic
and physical processes, the cathode-emitting surface
may be modied by the energy of the returning elec-
trons. Choice of cathode materials and type of cath-
ode is therefore a critical item in magnetron and
CFA design.
In general the thermionic emitter type cathodes used in
magnetrons are either pure tungsten operating at very
high temperatures to achieve the requisite emission den-
sities with long lifetimes, versions of carburized thoriated
tungsten operating at lower temperatures and having
some reduction of life, or dispenser cathodes operating at
much lower temperatures that depend on the constant
evolving and migrating of an activating material to the
emitting surface to mitigate the effects of evaporation and
electron backbombardment.
One of the easiest and least expensive dispenser-type
cathodes to manufacture and use is the oxide cathode.
This cathode was typically used in low-power CW mag-
netrons for altimeter and FM transmitters. Originally de-
veloped for radio tubes, this cathode through chemical and
thermal processes continually replenishes its semiconduc-
tor surface with barium ions evolved in the body of the
oxide, which in conjunction with the oxide provide emis-
sion of electrons at a low temperature. The barium oxide
cathode material is frequently used in either a nickel
mesh or nickel matrix to enhance its chemical and me-
chanical properties. The oxide cathode can provide not
only CW current but also high peak current at narrow
pulsewidth. Currently, the oxide cathode is used in beacon
magnetrons for transponder and weather radar applica-
tions.
Considerable effort has been devoted over many years
to develop fast warmup cathodes for beacon and millime-
ter-wave magnetrons. In most instances the achievement
of fast warmup requires changing many other features of
the magnetron design and specications besides just the
cathode emitter. A recent analysis discusses methods for
reducing warmup time and heater power for a semiindi-
rectly heated oxide coated cathode [32]. This paper also
suggests that materials other than tungsten and molyb-
denum be used for the cathode heater.
The impregnated type cathode has replaced the oxide
cathode in many high-power crossed-eld tubes that re-
quire long life and wide pulsewidth. The particular type of
impregnated cathode used is greatly inuenced by the na-
ture of the application of the magnetron or crossed-eld
amplier.
Although other methods and materials have been used,
in general the impregnated cathode uses a porous matrix
of compacted and sintered tungsten into which a suitable
barium oxide base compound is impregnated. The emit-
ting surface may be polished or have various other mate-
rials deposited on it to stabilize thermionic or secondary
emission characteristics. Operating at about 10501C,
this cathode, when applied properly, can supply copious
emission for tens of thousands of hours in a crossed-eld
device.
A paper by Cronin [33] provides basic information on
the impregnated cathode and describes various coating
methods used to enhance the cathode current density. The
impregnated cathode is highly reliable and is extensively
used in high-power coaxial magnetrons and crossed-eld
ampliers.
General description of cathode types, fabrication, and
usage is provided by Gilmour [34], and a complete discus-
sion of cathode fabrication and processing is given by
Rosebury [35] and Kohl [36]. Djubua et al. [37] reviews
the state of the art of the dispenser cathode to provide
current density of 30 A/cm
2
(amperes per square centime-
ter) with a life of 10,000 hours for klystron usage. The
combination of layered cathode materials and alternate
surface coatings is discussed. This technology may be ap-
plicable to further improve the performance of cathodes in
the magnetron and crossed-eld amplier.
The cathode workhorse for the kilowatt, S-band micro-
wave oven magnetron is the carburized thoriated tung-
sten helix wire cathode where current density of 13 A/cm
2
is typical depending on whether the device operates CWor
pulsed. Carburization reduces the amount of evaporation
of thorium leading to enhanced reliability and life. A pure-
tungsten cathode helix is used in the higher-power indus-
trial magnetrons. L-band 100-kW CW magnetrons have a
life of approximately 10,000 h. Most common failure
modes are lament end of life, internal arcing, and mod-
ing phenomena. Limited data for L- and S-band 30-kW
magnetrons show 60008000 h of life with lament end-of-
life the most common failure mode [38].
Finally, some cathodes operate on secondary emission.
The oxide cathode has a high secondary emission ratio and
can provide high current under short pulsewidth condi-
tions. Other secondary emission cathodes can operate sta-
bly at reasonably high emission densities and high
average power. Pure metal cathodes of tantalum and mo-
lybdenum showed some early promise. These materials
have been superceded by a cold, secondary emitting plat-
inum cathode that meets the stability and life require-
ments for both high-CW power generation and combined
2488 MAGNETRONS
high peak and average power generation at wide pulse-
widths [39].
Particular applications requiring low-voltage operation
of the crossed-eld device, long pulse operation dictated
the use of metallic oxide lms as beryllium oxide. The na-
ture of these emitters is discussed by Shih et al. [40]. The
oxide lm degrades during operation, and an auxiliary
oxygen dispenser is required to allow the oxide lm to
be continually replaced. This approach has been used
successfully in crossed-eld ampliers employed in the
AEGIS Weapon System [41].
3.5.2. Magnet Design. The magnetron and crossed-eld
amplier have had a long history of using Alnico 5 and 7
magnetic material. Alnico 9 is also used in coaxial mag-
netrons at L and S band to achieve higher eld strength,
and to reduce volume and weight. As discussed in Section
7, magnets made of the rare-earth element samarium and
cobalt [42] are used in beacon and millimeter-wave mag-
netrons where exceptionally small volume and low weight,
freedom from demagnetization when in proximity to fer-
rous materials, and high-temperature operation are
requirements. The use of temperature compensated sa-
mariumcobalt magnets has achieved essentially zero
temperature coefcients and provides long-term stability
at 3001C [43]. These magnets have been employed in trav-
eling-wave tubes. Information on usage in crossed-eld
tubes is not available.
The magnetrons used in microwave ovens typically use
low-cost ferrite magnets; changes in temperature can af-
fect the stability of this material.
3.6. Magnetron Performance Chart and Rieke Diagram
The magnetron performance chart shows the relationship
between voltage, current, and magnetic eld. Specific
power data or contours of constant power and constant
efciency are typically superposed on the voltagecurrent
plot. Regions of high or low noise generation are some-
times identied. Figure 7 is of considerable historical in-
terest in that it shows the Gauss lines of voltage versus
current for different magnetic eld levels for a 25-kW CW
magnetron that has used as the base design for higher-
power CW magnetrons. Note that as the magnetic eld is
increased, the efciency approaches B85%. This efciency
value includes the electronic conversion efciency, circuit
efciency, and an efciency term associated with back-
bombardment power to the cathode. Note the wide range
of current, which provides high efciency at a higher than
normal magnetic eld level. Further investigation is re-
quired to establish the maximum efciency obtainable
from the magnetron [140].
The performance chart records the operation of the
magnetron into a matched RF load. This chart also pro-
vides information on matching the static impedance of the
magnetron to the power supply or modulator impedance.
The dynamic impedance of the magnetron is of importance
relative to the manner in which the magnetron voltage and
current are affected by the dynamic impedance of the pow-
er supply/modulator. CW magnetrons typically have low
dynamic impedance; hence optimum performance is ob-
tained by operation of the magnetron under a condition of
constant current. Note the dynamic impedance is sensitive
to the heater power and cathode backbombardment power.
At a given magnetic eld an increase in magnetron an-
ode voltage produces a change in anode current that is a
function of the dynamic impedance of the tube. The volt-
age and current will increase until a limit in current is
reached. The voltage and current may markedly change
depending on the nature of the power supply or modulator.
This voltagecurrent change corresponds to a transition
of operation into a non-pi circuit mode at a different fre-
quency. The current limit is termed a current-mode bound-
ary, and the magnetron is said to have moded.
0
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
1.0 2.0
Anode current (Ia),A
5kW 10kW 15kW
20kW
85%
Field
strength
83%
80%
75%
70%
25kW 30kW 35kW 40kW
1450
1350
1250
1150
1050
950
850
A
n
o
d
e

v
o
l
t
a
g
e

V
a
,

k
V
3.0 4.0
Figure 7. Performance chart: frequency 912
Mc/s, frequency-pulling gure 2.6 Mc/s. (Repro-
duced with permission from Proc. IEE, 1964,
J.R.G. Twisleton, Ref. 56.)
MAGNETRONS 2489
Alternately, the magnetron may undergo a small
percentage change in voltage at essentially constant cur-
rent. This voltage change is accompanied by a shift in fre-
quency. This is termed a Gauss-line discontinuity, which
causes degradation of the magnetron spectrum.
Moding and the Gauss-line discontinuity can be inu-
enced by the load conditions and is greatly affected by the
available cathode emission current. If the maximum avail-
able emission current is approached the slope of the volt-
agecurrent curve will increase. It has recently been
shown by numerical simulation of magnetron operation
[79,104] that the magnetron is unstable under this condi-
tion. Once the transition into a regime of cathode temper-
ature emission-limited operation has occurred, the
magnetron resumes stable operation with typically lower
noise generation than that associated with cathode space-
charge-limited emission.
The effect of load (microwave oven, plasma reactor, an-
tenna, etc.) mismatch that encompasses variation of both
magnitude of load impedance and phase is described by
the Rieke diagram, which provides contours of power and
frequency as a function of load voltage standing-wave ra-
tio (VSWR) and phase.
The Rieke diagram of Fig. 8 provides a description of
the magnetron response to variation of the complex load
impedance. Circles of load reection coefcient or corre-
sponding load VSWR are displayed. The contours of mea-
sured constant power output are shown as a function of
load VSWR and phase. Note the region of high power cor-
responds to strong coupling of the magnetron to the load.
Matched load is at the center of the diagram and repre-
sents zero reection coefcient or VSWR equal to one. Op-
eration of the magnetron at a power level greater than
that at matched load can lead to moding. The region of
high power is called the sink. The lines of constant
frequency tend to converge in the high-power region of
the chart. Small changes in load impedance result in rel-
atively large frequency shifts causing degradation of the
spectrum. However, efciency is high in the sink region.
The low-power region of the chart corresponds to re-
duced coupling to the load with greater energy storage in
the magnetron circuit. While buildup of oscillation is im-
proved in the low-power (antisink) region, the magnitude of
the RF elds in the magnetron can lead to arcing and an
increase in the missing pulse count. An increase of cathode
backbombardment power also occurs in regions of the chart
when the output power is less than the matched load pow-
er. For a given cathode heater power, the variation in cath-
ode backbombardment power may vary the cathode
temperature and thus cathode emission such that the cath-
ode transitions back and forth between space-charge-lim-
ited operation and temperature-limited operation.
3.7. Modication of Magnetron Circuit to Create an
Amplier
3.7.1. The Amplitron Crossed-Field Amplier. From the
late 1940s to the early 1950s numerous research activities
were in progress to develop a crossed-eld amplier. Mag-
netron amplier concepts were in vogue [44], and an
offshoot of Warneckes work led to the development of
the M-type backward-wave oscillator (M-BWO) [45],
which provided considerable insight into the crossed-eld
interaction process. A parallel investigation led to modi-
cation of the magnetron anode circuit, which resulted in
an amplifying device called the Amplitron invented by
Brown [46]. The theory of the Amplitron was developed by
Dombrowski [47].
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
3.0 v.s.w.r. 2.5 2.0
1.5 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Voltage
reflection
coefficient
V min at
probe centre
line
190
200
210
220
230
240
250
260 270
1
2
3
4 Mc/s
280
290
300
310
320
330
340
350
0
10
+2
+1
20
30
40
+3Mc/s
50
60
70
80
0
T
o
w
a
r
d
s

l
o
a
d
22.5
kW
23
22
21
20
19kW
18kW
Figure 8. Rieke diagram with series eld
V
s
11.4 kV, I
a
2.35 A, frequency909.6Mc/s.
(Reproduced with permission from Proc. IEE,
1964, J.R.G. Twisleton, Ref. 56.)
2490 MAGNETRONS
The Amplitron is best described in terms of the mag-
netron circuit modication as shown in Fig. 9, where the
dual strapped circuit is severed. The anodestrap congu-
ration is now representative of a broadband transmission
line rather than the resonant structure of the magnetron.
The anode vane count for the magnetron is an even num-
ber, while for the Amplitron the vane count is odd. The
circuit has an input/output terminal. A drive signal im-
pressed on the input is transmitted along the circuit to the
output. Electrons created at the cathode rotate about
the cathode in a direction opposite that of power ow on
the circuit. This device is termed a backwardwave de-
vice. The power ow on the transmission line creates RF
voltages on the anode electrodes. The time-varying electric
eld created in the interaction space is composed of two
fundamental waves, one of which travels in the direction of
electron ow. Interaction of this wave with the circulating
electron stream is similar to that occurring in the magnet-
ron. The mechanism of power buildup on the circuit is also
identical to what occurs in the M-BWO where power ows
on the circuit in a direction opposite that of the electron
ow. The frequency of the Amplitron is determined by the
drive signal and the magnitude of power gain is deter-
mined by the impedance of the transmission line.
Of importance is the reentrant nature of the electron
stream in the Amplitron. Reentrant implies the space
charge spokes created by the crossed-eld focusing mech-
anism rotate about the cathode and pass without degra-
dation from the region of low electric eld of the input
anode electrode to the region of high electric eld of the
output anode electrode. Typical overall efciency for the
backward wave Amplitron is between 4580% depending
on frequency, magnetic eld level, and RF circuit resistive
loss associated with the length of the circuit. In some ap-
plications the Amplitron can exhibit greater efciency
than the high-Q resonant magnetron due to its broad-
band, low-Q lter-type RF circuit.
Typical usage of the Amplitron is illustrated by the fol-
lowing examples. The Amplitron was used in the S-band,
CW, FM transmitter in the lunar excursion module of the
NASA Apollo program. This Amplitron provided 17 dB of
gain, power of 25 W, and operated at an efciency of 55%.
Note this tube employed a standard oxide-coated cathode
with a nickel matrix that met the reliability and life re-
quirements of the spaceborne telemetry mission.
For decades the Amplitron was the dedicated pulsed
power source for the U.S. FAA Airport Surveillance Radar
providing 4.5MW of peak power at L band and operating
at approximately 50% efciency. An oxide cathode was
used that consisted of a coating of bariumstrontium oxide
supported by a husky nickel sleeve. This cathode provided
an operational life of 15,000h. The drive power for this
amplier was a provided by highly frequency-stable, me-
chanically tuned oscillator version of the Amplitron called
the Stabilotron [46].
Typical of the many radar systems that have employed
the Amplitron are the U.S. Navy 3 D air search SPS-48E
and the surface search SPS-67, and the U.S. Army Patriot
multifunction phased array radar MPQ-53 [48].
3.7.2. Forward-Wave Crossed-Field Amplier. One of
the many versions of the crossed-eld amplier is the for-
ward-wave crossed-eld amplier. The direction of elec-
tron ow in the interaction space is in the same direction
as the power ow on the RF circuit; hence the term for-
ward-wave interaction. As with backward-wave interac-
tion, the electrons interact with a component of electric
eld that travels in the same direction as the electron ow;
thus the interaction and spoke formation is again similar
to that of the magnetron. This device is nonreentrant in
that a circulating spoke of charge is dispersed as the spoke
passes from output to input electrodes. Ideally the dis-
persed electrons have no residual bunching and carry no
modulation into the input region.
A forward-wave crossed-eld amplier is employed in
the AN/SPY-1 multifunction, phased-array radar used by
the U.S. Navy AEGIS Weapon System [49]. Crossed-eld
amplier mean time between failures (MTBF) has reached
45,000 h, compared to a design requirement of 5000 h. As
of 1998 the shelf life of AEGIS CFA tubes was B1012
years [41].
4. MAGNETRONS FOR POWER APPLICATIONS
The magnetron, per the review in the preceding section,
has played a leading role in military and civilian radar
applications, primarily in the pulsed mode. In such appli-
cations in many cases the magnetron was eventually re-
placed by magnetron derivatives, such as various forms of
the crossed-eld amplier (See Section 7.), by klystrons or
traveling-wave tubes (TWTs) and at the lower microwave
frequencies by solid-state devices when the radar system
is converted to a phased-array system, which uses many
lower-power sources instead of one or a few high-power
sources. CW applications for the magnetron were rst
sought in electronic countermeasures but later replaced
by M-type backward-wave oscillators (carcinotrons) and
TWTs. Magnetrons persisted in applications of beacon
magnetrons and marine radarespecially for small boats.
Platinotron Magnetron
Figure 9. Diagram illustrating the basic difference of construc-
tion and operation between the platinotron and the magnetron.
(r Proc. IRE, 1957, W.C. Brown, Ref. 46.)
MAGNETRONS 2491
In the 1960s, however, the tube industries in the face of
successful replacement of tubes by new semiconductor de-
vices looked for new application areas and recognized [50]
the area of noncommunications or non-information-pro-
cessing applications as a potential new-growth market for
tubes. In the main this is equivalent to power applica-
tions reecting the fact that tubes generally have much
higher power capability than do solid-state devices. Power
applications include medical procedures (diathermy, hype-
rthermia), power transmission as in the solar-satellite
power system and microwave heating in the consumer
area (the microwave oven), and industrial areas (a variety
of tasks from bacon cooking to drying of wood and paper).
The history [51] of microwave heating is centered
around the invention and growth of the microwave-oven
market for both consumers and commercial sites. The
magnetron plays the key role in the history of the micro-
wave oven. The inventor of the microwave oven, Percy
Spencer headed the World War II work at Raytheon,
which resulted in that one company manufacturing over
80% of the magnetrons in the world in 1946. Naturally he
looked for commercial applications of the magnetron fol-
lowing the War; included were the diathermy application,
the microwave oven, and even, for a while, microwave re-
lay applications for TV signals. The relatively low weight,
size, and cost of the magnetron coupled with its unchal-
lenged potential for efciency made it the leading candi-
date for the microwave oven application. After the war,
Raytheon successfully proposed to the FCC (Federal
Communications Commission) in the United States for a
new frequency allocation around 2.45 GHz for heating
applications such as diathermy and the microwave oven.
At the same time an allocation was made around 915MHz
in response to a request from GE. These two bands have
become part of a series of ISM bands [industrial, scientific,
and medical (ISM)] recognized by international treaty
through the ITU (International Telecommunications Un-
ion). The 2.45-GHz band is used throughout the world and
specifically is 2.42.5GHz. The 915-MHz band is now 902
928MHz but is approved for use only in region 1, the
Western Hemisphere. Incidental emissions in these ISM
bands is limited only by safety regulations and not the
much more stringent limits to prevent RFI (radiofrequen-
cy interference). The relatively broad width of these bands
is necessitated by the properties of inexpensive magnet-
rons, which include large values of frequency pulling, in
response to load variation, large frequency pushing as a
function of anode current, and thermal drift as the mag-
netron temperature varies with time and other parame-
ters, including line voltage.
The magnetron, because of its inherent high efciency,
90% theoretically and 6090% in practice, has always been
the leading candidate for use in the microwave oven. Early
tubes [51] made by Raytheon during 19461966, however,
still were relatively expensive and heavycompared to
todays magnetrons. Beginning in the 1960s, contributions
from engineers in Japan [52] led to the modern cooker
magnetron. In the period between 1960 and 1975 the unit
cost to OEM (original-equipment manufacturers) micro-
wave oven companies dropped from over $100 to close to
$10. This represents a cost of about $0.01/W of microwave
power. The many steps, studies, and innovations by Jap-
anese manufacturers (mainly Toshiba, Matsushita, and
Hitachi) have been recorded mostly in papers published in
the Journal of Microwave Power, published by the Inter-
national Microwave Power Institute. The potential for fur-
ther improvement was reviewed in 1995 [52].
By 1995 the characteristics of cooker magnetrons had
evolved to essentially a standard design representing a
consensus among manufacturers. Figure 10 is a photo-
graph of three typical cooker tubes. As shown their weight
is 12 lb and size less than a 4-in. cube. Their output pow-
ers generally are between 700 and 1000W with peak an-
ode voltage around 4kV, peak anode current around 1 A,
and a lament voltage around 3.0V. The internal con-
struction of any cooker magnetron is similar to that shown
in Fig. 11 except for the number of vanes, which is now
typically only 10. Not shown is the lter box, evident in
Fig. 10, which encloses the high-voltage terminals (head-
er) with insertion of series inductors and a shunt capac-
itance before the external terminals seen in Fig. 10.
Ferrite magnets, shown in Fig. 10, provide the magnetic
eld, which is about 1850 G in the interaction space. The
cathode is a carburized thoriated tungsten helix, and
the anode structure is a strapped-vane periodic structure.
The output is through an antenna shown contacting one
vane and transmitting into a rectangular waveguide.
In the microwave oven application the waveguide then
transmits the microwave power to the oven cavity and
load with the possible utilization of randomizing elements
like a rotating antenna, rotating turntable, stirrer, or oth-
er components such as multifeed apertures or use of more
than one tube per oven. In the early days ferrite circula-
tors were used to protect the magnetron, especially in
commercial applications. It, however, has been the stan-
dard practice for many years to eliminate any ferrite pro-
tection device. The modern cooker tubes, of ceramic metal
construction, are rugged enough to withstand such treat-
ment even during no-load operation. The side effects, how-
ever, are that the magnetron sees a multitude of loads in
a stirrer cycle. This and the variables of current and tem-
perature create a complicated matrix of instantaneous op-
erating conditions, which increases greatly the probability
for some spurious effect, even if it is for a brief instant.
Figure 10. Photograph of several typical modern cooker mag-
netrons.
2492 MAGNETRONS
In a 1995 review [53] a comparison of tubes revealed
the values shown in Table 1. The cost-reduced 10-vane
models retained the approximate values of anode length
and cathode length of previous vintage 12 vane tubes (viz.,
B0.400 in. for anode length and 0.425 in. for cathode
length). Changed were anode diameter, reduced to about
0.350 in. and cathode diameter reduced to about 0.155 in.
In addition, the cathode helix wire diameter was reduced
by about 20% to 0.020 in.
Avery important and distinctive feature of cooker mag-
netron operation is its AC operation, wherein the tube is
subjected to a rectied AC (50 or 60 Hz) voltage of a bit
over 4.0 kV peak. This means that, in contradistinction to
conventional operation at a DC current, the anode current
in the cooker magnetron, each cycle, varies from 0 to a
peak of over 1 A. This leads to very important differences
in conventional magnetron operation versus that in the
microwave oven. Figure 12 depicts typical Gauss lines re-
corded when a magnetron is operated with steady DC
voltage and current. At normal lament voltage one
usually observes the lower Gauss line with significant
noise. A higher Gauss line with reduced noise is achieved
only after dropping the lament voltage through a critical
value of lament voltage. In the AC operation of the cooker
magnetron, however (see Fig. 13) the tube each cycle pass-
es on the way up through rst a preoscillation region, then
a noise region, then a region of discrete spurious sideband
oscillations, and nally at high current a region essential-
ly free of noiseat least the noise associated with space
charge effects. These regions are also inuenced by change
in lament voltage as depicted in the oscilloscope photo-
graphs in Fig. 14 of Gauss lines, showing at critical values
of lament voltage Gauss line discontinuities associated
with the boundaries of high-amplitude spurious signals.
Figure 15 shows typical instantaneous spectra between 2
and 3 GHz at currents in the three principal regions of
anode current
Almost all microwave ovens are operated with cold
start, meaning that the high voltage (anode) and lament
voltage are snapped on simultaneously. Thus, as shown in
12
50
52
16
16
22
20
26
54
48
44
46
60
50
10
2
52
62
42
22
12
16
14
14
2
38
60
36
28
34
32
26
30
26
22
62
14
20
24
40
20
18
Figure 11. Drawings of typical cooker magnet-
ron construction.
MAGNETRONS 2493
Fig. 16, the waveform of anode voltage during cold start
shows about a 1.5 s delay before steady cyclic operation is
achieved with peak voltage of B4 kV. Initially the mag-
netron is subjected to cold-state anode voltage values be-
tween 7 and 10 kVand just before full oscillation a B0.5-s
period of complicated moding states and transitionswith
operating voltages between 5 and 7.5 kV. There is a small
probability of voltage breakdown under the higher cold
voltages with subsequent voltage transients generated by
the presence of high inductance in power supply trans-
formers. These could be damaging to oven components.
Previously there were voltage transients triggered at the
end of a spurious mode that occurred just before the mod-
ing period, which was the result of an electron discharge
from one end shield to the opposite end shield. (This dis-
charge is related to an axial double-stream interaction
believed to play a role in the preliminary stages of
cold-cathode emission in magnetron diodes [54].) The
marking F and FA on lament leads previously served
as a guide for preferred lament polarity for reduced tran-
sients of this type. Modern cooker tubes all incorporate the
grooves in end shields, (see Fig. 11) as an effective means
of suppressing this spurious mode, making the utility of
the F/FA codes academic.
Cooker magnetrons typically encounter only the lower
(in terms of lament voltage) mode boundary during nor-
mal operation. That boundary, denoted by V
fm
may typ-
ically be below 1 V at the start of life and rises to the
normal value of lament voltage around 3.3 Vat the end of
life. Presumably this deterioration is the result of pro-
gressive loss of thorium under complicated processes of
sputtering and other gas phenomena, even though the
tubes incorporate getters (usually consisting of titanium
or Zirconium on the cathode support rod and end shield,
made of molybdenum). Less frequently encountered is the
upper-mode boundary above which strong spurious side-
bands (f
0
7Df) and baseband signals (Df) exist with Df in
the range of 200300 MHz. This spurious modulation,
when too strong, causes the magnetron to mode, not at
peak current (as is the case for the lower-mode boundary)
but at either discontinuity bounding the anode current
Table 1. Summary of Key Tube Dimensions (inches)
a
Vane Tube Anode Cathode Anode Cathode Wire Number of
Number Type Diameter Diameter Length Length Diameter Turns
12 QKH1845 0.400 0.200 0.400 40.400
12 2M107A-78 H 0.416 0.198 0.396 0.425 0.0245 B7
12 2M167 0.435 0.205 0.396 0.440 0.024 B6.5
12 2M172J 0.397 0.203 0.395 0.420 0.024 B6.5
12 OM75A 0.404 0.197 0.396 0.438 0.025 B7
12 Sanyo 0.395 0.198 0.357 0.404
10 2M172AJ(A) 0.357 0.152 0.374 0.413 0.020 B8.5
10 2M157A-M10 0.347 0.158 0.394 0.432 0.020 B8.5
10 2M107A-304 0.365 0.154 0.386 0.406 0.020 B8.5
10 2M214 0.354
10 2M229 0.346
a
Measurements indicate at least / 0.010 scatter in cathode axial position with respect to anode. Antenna pole in most tubes is north, except for
Panasonic designs:
Toshiba: 2M172J, 2M172AJ(A), 2M229
Hitachi: 2M107A-78H, 2M107A-304, 2M214
Panasonic: 2M167, 2M167A-M10, 2M203
Samsung: OM75A.
Va
la

*
Figure 12. Depiction of low-noise and high-noise Gauss lines
(states) in a magnetron when operated with DC anode voltage
(taken from old data on CW magnetrons).
I
a1
"Noise"
level
arbitrary
scale
Anode
voltage
V
a
I
a1
I
a2
(a)
(b)
I
a3
I
a3
Anode current
I
a2
I
a
I
a
I
am
Figure 13. Regions of different noise characteristics during op-
eration of a cooker magnetron with rectied AC voltage.
2494 MAGNETRONS
region of strong spurious. The cause is not too well un-
derstood but presumably is associated with excess emis-
sion, while the immediate solution is to reduce lament
voltage.
Todays cooker magnetrons generally operate around
1 kW with efciency into a matched load of 470% to per-
mit 50% overall oven efciency for large loads. The man-
ufacturing volume per year, worldwide, is now (as of 2004)
Figure 14. Gauss line traces [50V/div(division); 0.1A/div.] of
a cooker magnetron at varying lament voltages (1.65, 2.0,
2.5, 3.0, and 3.6 V) showing presence of discontinuities asso-
ciated with spurious oscillations (traces displaced for viewing
purposes).
I = 0.2A
CTR 2.5000 GHz SPAN 100 MHz/ RES BW 300 kHz VF Off
REF 0 dBm 10 dB/ Atten 10 dB SWP 5 sec/
I = 0.9A (Peak)
CTR 2.5001 GHz SPAN 100 MHz/ RES BW 300 kHz VF Off
REF 10 dBm 10 dB/ Atten 20dB SWP 5 sec/
0
(dB)
10
20
30
40
50
60
3.0
(a) (b)
(c)
2.5 2.0
3.0 2.5 2.0
70
0
(dB)
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
I = 0.5A (Peak)
CTR 2.5000 GHz SPAN 100 MHz/ RES BW 300 klHz VF Off
REF 0 dBm 10 dB/ Atten 10 dB SWP 5 sec/
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
3.0
(dB)
2.5
f (GHz)
f (GHz)
f (GHz)
2.0
Figure 15. Typical cooker magnetron noise spectra at (a) low currents, (b) moderate currents, and
(c) high currents.
MAGNETRONS 2495
over 60 million tubes per year. While Japan and Korea are
still significant suppliers of cooker magnetrons, the ma-
jority are being made in the Third World in China, Indo-
nesia, and Thailand with an unknown production in the
former Soviet Union. Large quantity prices are now well
below $10 per tube.
Besides the microwave oven there are some industrial
applications of microwave power [55] in which magnet-
rons play a key role. Some of these, for example, for pow-
ering plasma sources of ultraviolet energy, utilize
magnetrons at the 25 kW level. Although these are not
cooker magnetrons, they are closely related in design and
performance.
Microwave power applications at power levels below
5 kWare almost all at 2.45 GHz. There are, however, many
higher-power applications, up to 100 kW and higher, that
operate at 915MHz. The main uses are in the food indus-
try for meat tempering and bacon cooking [55], although
other applications for drying and even some military ap-
plications exist. The power source is a magnetron derived
from the pioneering work of Twisleton [56] in the 1960s.
Today the major suppliers are Burle Industries and Cal-
ifornia Tube Laboratories (CTL) in the United States,
while EEV in the United Kingdom and Istok in Russia
also have been suppliers. In Fig. 17 we show a recent pho-
tograph of this type of tube. It is large and weighs about
1520 lb. It is typically operated around 18 kVand 5 A for
75-kW applications with a large solenoid used for the
magnetic eld, which typically is around 1350G. The mag-
netron in this application, in contradistinction to the cook-
er magnetron, is not operated cold-start, which is clearly
impractical at the high voltage and current levels. Instead
the cathode, made of tungsten, is preheated at 12 V la-
ment voltage and roughly 100 A and then after start the
lament current is programmed to decrease as power in-
creases to, for instance, 75 A at the 75 kWoperating point.
The conventional supply used with this tube allows anode
current to ow through the solenoid. Thus, as power is
increased, the current from the separate solenoid current
supply is decreased accordingly. The DC voltage is
snapped on at start at high Gauss, and then the gauss
level is dropped to permit current ow and power output.
Typical efciency is in the mid 8090% percentage range,
while in the laboratory, prototype tubes of the Twisleton
variety have shown over 90% efciency. The cathode is a
helix and made of pure tungsten and of roughly 0.400 in.
diameter. There is no getter in the tube.
This magnetron is operated in industrial systems only
with a ferrite circulator to protect the tube, particularly
against moding, which can be destructive to the tube. The
recommended value of lament voltage versus output power
is designed to be adequately separated from both a lower-
mode boundary and an upper-mode boundary. The lower-
mode boundary is related to inadequate cathode emission. It
is believed that the upper-mode boundary is associated with
spurious oscillations, as with the cooker tube Little data
exist to conrm this supposition, because of the restrictions
involved in experimenting at high power levels. Even
though the cathode is pure tungsten, the emission includes
contribution from secondary electron emission as well as
thermionic emission. The former is not well understood, so
considerable variation in lower-mode boundary exists.
A significant eld problem with this tube is that of
mag overloads. Another problem is the methods to re-
store full power operation after momentary powerdown
procedures triggered by arcs in the heating cavities. The
mag overloads are not well understood but in the main are
moding events, sometimes triggered by momentary
drops in line voltage in industrial-level voltage lines.
Other magnetrons in industrial applications include
tubes at the 6001000 W level at 915MHz and tubes at
power levels of 525kW at 2.45 GHz. There are also more
recent reports of the development of a 1-kW 60% efciency
magnetron in Japan for 5.8 GHz. Little information about
these magnetrons is generally available. There is little
doubt that useful magnetrons for power applications could
be developed over much wider ranges of frequency and
power when the economic conditions are appropriate.
5. CROSSED-FIELD DEVICE THEORY AND DEVICE
SIMULATION
5.1. Elementary Magnetron Theory
The elements of the magnetron consist of a cathode that
emits electrons into a three-dimensional interaction space
(r,y, z) bounded by the cathode of radius r
c
and an outer
Figure 16. Voltage waveform during cold start of a cooker mag-
netron. In this case a voltage transient due to end shield emission
is present. (2 kV/div; 0.2s/div).
Figure 17. Photograph of a 75-kW 915-MHz magnetron.
2496 MAGNETRONS
electrode or anode of radius r
a
. A potential difference be-
tween the anode and cathode is established by a DC power
supply or by a modulator that provides a voltage pulse.
The pulse repetition frequency (PRF) multiplied by the
pulselength in seconds is called the duty factor. This is a
measure of the percent time that the device is operating. If
the average power delivered to the magnetron is P
av
watts,
then the instantaneous peak power is P
av
/(duty factor)
measured in watts. For continuous-wave (CW) operation,
the duty factor is 1.
A magnetic eld is applied axially in the z direction,
which is in a direction parallel to the anodecathode sur-
faces. The electrons emitted from the cathode experience a
radial outward force FeE measured in newtons, where e
is the magnitude of the charge on the electron in coulombs
and E is the magnitude of the electric eld in volts per
meter created by the anodecathode potential difference in
volts within the region (r
a
r
c
) in meters. A radial inward
magnetic force opposes the electric eld force and is given
by FevB, where v is the azimuth velocity measured in
meter per second and B is the applied axial magnetic eld
measured in teslas. The general motion of an electron
within the interaction space is that of an epicycloid with
radial acceleration determined by the net force exerted by
the electric and magnetic elds; the net force provides the
centripetal force Fmv
2
/r, where m is the mass of the
electron in kilograms and r is the radial position of the
electron in meters, required for circular motion. The ep-
icycloid motion of the electron consists of an azimuth drift
with velocity v E/B with superposed circular motion
with angular velocity Ov/R, where R is the radius of
the circle; O(e/m)B is the cyclotron frequency.
The cycloidal motion is termed two-stream motion in
that electrons travel outward and then return inward to-
ward the cathode. This motion is modied by the presence
of the electrons in that they contribute to the electric eld
in the interaction space. Thus the motion of the electrons
is modied by the density of electrons as a function of ra-
dius, azimuth, and axial position such that various con-
gurations of the electron motion can exist. If the number
of electrons is minimum, then double-stream motion dom-
inates with electrons traveling radially outward from the
cathode and radially inward toward the cathode. This is
called the temperature-limited state in that for a given
cathode temperature the cathode will emit a limited num-
ber of electrons. If the number of electrons is large, then
the motion of the electrons is greatly modied. A so-called
single-stream state may exist when the cumulative effect
of all the electrons reduces the electric eld at the cathode
to zero. The emission from the cathode is termed space-
charge-limited. Under these conditions all electrons trav-
el in circular orbits about the cathode with azimuth ve-
locity increasing with the radius.
For a given magnetic eld and anode voltage, electrons
moving on a cycloidal orbit can just graze the anode. The
magnetic eld is specied as B
0
and the anode voltage
as V
0
, and the condition of grazing is termed cutoff.
Increasing the voltage above V
0
allows electrons to be col-
lected on the anode and the condition is termed above
cutoff. The device is a diode with current delivered to
the anode as a function of the magnetic eld and cathode
temperature. If the magnetic eld is increased, the elec-
trons can (ideally) no longer reach the anode. This is called
a condition of below cutoff. In this state we may have the
extremes of temperature-limited operation and space-
charge-limited operation.
Let us assume in either extreme that we have an ag-
gregate of electrons having a particular azimuth velocity
and hence a particular angular velocity at a given radius.
These electrons will induce charge on the anode circuit
electrodes, which vary with time as the electrons pass by
an electrode. The variation of the charge with time creates
an induced current in the anode electrode. If, by Fourier
analysis of the induced current, a frequency component
exists that matches the resonant frequency of the mag-
netron, an RF voltage will be develop on the anode elec-
trodes. This time-varying voltage will establish electric
elds in the interaction space, which can be Fourier-ana-
lyzed into azimuth traveling electric eld waves in the in-
teraction space. If the electron angular velocity matches
the angular velocity of one of these Fourier wave compo-
nents, then a condition of synchronism is said to exist.
Assume at some radius r
0
that the electron moves with
an angular velocity o that is synchronous with that of the
circuit wave. Electrons riding at the positive peak voltage
of the wave will experience a force in a direction deter-
mined by the vector cross-product of E
r
B
z
such that they
will advance toward the zero voltage point of the wave.
Electrons riding at the negative voltage of the wave will be
retarded in their motion and coalesce about the zero volt-
age point. Crossed-eld bunching of the space charge thus
occurs and the angular velocity is constant. In the inter-
action space electrons at the zero voltage point on the
wave will experience an angular component of electric
eld E
y
due to the circuit wave. The force on the electrons
will be in a direction determined by E
y
B
z
which is di-
rected toward the anode. The electrons are thus forced
radially outward while maintaining approximately con-
stant angular velocity o
syn
while the azimuth velocity
increases with r. During the radial drift toward the anode,
the electrons traverse a potential difference DV with avail-
able energy WqDV, where q is the transported charge.
The change in kinetic energy of the electrons however is
DKE(m/2)(v
f
2
v
0
2
) (m/2)(o
syn
)
2
(r
a
2
r
0
2
). It is found that
DKE is less than W; thus the potential energy transformed
into RF energy is WDKE. The energy exchange mecha-
nism is in contrast to the exchange that occurs in linear
beam devices where potential energy is rst converted
into kinetic energy, which is subsequently converted into
RF energy.
5.2. Recent Work on Extending the Theory of Magnetron and
Crossed-Field Amplier
5.2.1. Soliton Theory. The development of an extension
of basic magnetron theory has been minimal in more re-
cent years. Work has been done in the application of sol-
iton theory to the crossed-eld device [57]. Early analysis
as applied the crossed-eld amplier in predicting perfor-
mance was reviewed and found lacking in details [58].
Nonlinear analysis has been pursued by Kaup and
Thomas [59] relative to the magnetron and provides
MAGNETRONS 2497
further insight into the complexity of the interaction. An-
alytical results support some measured data on CFA op-
eration at reduced magnetic elds, which indicates a
reduction in noise. This result is supported by measure-
ments on millimeter-wave magnetrons operating at re-
duced magnetic eld that show noise comparable to that of
O-type tubes [60].
Usychenko [61] discusses the space charge structure
and stability of solitary waves in the crossed-eld diode. It
is found that stable oscillations exist when the cathode
emission is weak. Under high emission conditions the
waves are unstable and may result in chaotic behavior
of the space charge and excess noise generation. This be-
havior appears to be related to high noise generation in
the magnetron under space-charge-limited operation of
the cathode and low-noise generation when the cathode is
operated under temperature-limited conditions.
5.2.2. Hartree Threshold Relationship. Lindsay et al.
[62] suggested that the Hartree threshold voltagemag-
netic eld relationship may have a broader interpretation.
Usually this relationship has been applied to the voltage
magnetic eld relationship that must be met to initiate
oscillation in the magnetron. The condition for start of os-
cillation in the magnetron has experimentally followed
closely that predicted by the threshold relationship. It is
found by numerical simulation under space-charge-free
conditions that electrons can be collected on the anode at
anode voltages well below the threshold value. This occurs
at normal operating current values and at corresponding-
ly high RF voltage levels. It is probable that the Hartree
equation is satised under these conditions by the super-
position of the reduced anode voltage and the large RF
voltage. The range of anode voltage and RF voltage for
which the above mentioned threshold condition might
hold has not been determined. The extreme conditions
for which this rule of thumb may not apply are a minimum
RF voltage approximating the start of oscillation-synchro-
nous threshold conditions and a maximum RF voltage ap-
proximating the DC anode voltage similar to that
occurring in a high-power relativistic magnetron where
the RFelectron interaction is highly nonsynchronous.
5.2.3. Radiation Generation in Crossed-Field Devices. An
alternate way of looking at the RF generation mechanism
in the crossed-eld device is considered by Riyopoulos
[63,64]. Consistent with elementary theory, electrostatic
electron energy is converted into radiation. Total energy
and momentum balance during the emission process re-
quires that the change in electron canonical momentum
and electrostatic energy be related to a shift of the guiding
center location of the electron in a direction perpendicular
to the drift velocity of the electron. The incremental
change in the electrostatic potential and vector potential
due to guiding center shift equal the energy and momen-
tum of the emitted RF quantum. The combined drift plus
cyclotron kinetic energy of electron motion are invariant
during this interaction process. This analysis is correct to
the rst order, neglecting second-order effects in E
rf
/B
2
.
The theory predicts that gain in the CFA is symmetric
about the frequency corresponding to that at which perfect
beamcircuit reentrancy occurs. This result is in agree-
ment with Amplitron theory [47] and simulation results
[65]. The theory also provides information on the gain per
wavelength as a function of the ratio of the height of the
space charge hub above the cathode to the anodecathode
spacing.
5.3. Early Crossed-Field Trajectory Calculations; More
Recent 2D and 3D Simulations
5.3.1. Analog Computer Computation: Magnetron and
Amplitron. In the mid-1950s, prior to the general avail-
ability of the digital computer, Feinstein and Kino [66]
used an analog computer to solve the equations of motion
for electrons in a forward-wave amplier and an M-type
backward-wave oscillator. The computations predicted the
performance of these devices under large-signal condi-
tions. It was assumed that the space charge effect on the
RF and DC elds could be neglected. Adiabatic motion of
the electrons was also assumed. The DC current, gener-
ated power, and growth rate of the RF eld along the
length of the anode circuit were computed.
An alternate approach developed by Brown and de-
scribed by Zettler et al. [67] employed a large plotting
table driven by an analog computer to trace out the x
and y positions of an electron in time. The recorder pen
was replaced with a probe that sensed electric potentials
on a resistive paper sheet placed on the plotting table. The
anodecathode geometry of the magnetron or Amplitron
was outlined on the resistive sheet using conductive paint.
Assumed RF vane voltages scaled in amplitude and time
to give analog voltages were applied to the painted elec-
trodes. Phase shift of the voltage between adjacent vanes
was included. The potentials sensed by the probe were
used to compute the x and y electric elds for use in solv-
ing the equations of motion. The computed x and y position
was fed to the plotting table to achieve a closed-loop com-
putation between position coordinates and sensed electric
elds. This approach was used by Zettler and Ruden [67]
to study the phase focusing mechanism in the magnetron
and Amplitron assuming synchronous DC elds and to
study the effect of changes of anode vane geometry on ef-
ciency. Use of a slanted anode vane tip designed on the
analog trajectory plotting equipment was incorporated
into the QK470 magnetron. An efciency improvement of
5% (absolute) was obtained, and frequency pushing was
reduced by an average of 50%. This reduction in pushing
provided superior performance of the magnetron in a
moving-target-indication (MTI) radar.
Using this same vane shape the efciency of the QK653
Amplitron, a device used in major airports in the U.S. FAA
Air Route Surveillance Radar, was increased by 510%.
A round anode vane was also designed and incorporat-
ed in the S-band, 400-kW CW power Amplitron. The elec-
tronic efciency of electrons collected on the vane surface
was optimized and anode secondary emission energy loss-
es were minimized.
This analog approach was also used to design a broad-
band VHF Amplitron that employed a single-electron
spoke with 1013 dB of gain occurring over only one guide
wavelength of the circuit [68].
2498 MAGNETRONS
5.3.2. Early Self-Consistent Space Charge; 2D Digital Tra-
jectory Calculations in Assumed Space Charge within the
Spoke. In 1941 a numerical analysis of the steady-state
operation of the magnetron was undertaken by Hartree
and Stoner [69]. A relaxation method was employed to
adjust the space charge in the interaction space to be con-
sistent with the applied DC electric eld, the anode cur-
rent, and the generated RF electric eld. Primary results
of the computation were frequency, power, and efciency.
In 1945 self-consistent calculations performed by Tibbs
and Wright [70] provided a description of the focusing of
the electrons in the interaction space of the magnetron. An
instantaneous snapshot of the electrons showed the space
charge as having been focused into what were termed
spokes. This is shown in Fig. 18 for the early British 10-
cm, eight-vane, CV 76 magnetron. Although the calcula-
tion was run for only one iteration, it was believed that
this picture represented steady-state operation.
Further numerical studies of the magnetron had to
await the advent of the digital computer. Lehr et al. [71]
began a series of computations in 1959 to extend the re-
sults of Tibbs and Wright. The computation failed after 36
iterations to converge to a steady-state solution for the
imposed condition of space charge limitation of cathode
emission. However, a steady-state space charge congu-
ration was obtained under temperature-limited operation
of the cathode. Note that magnetrons were normally
run in the space charge-limited condition since tempera-
ture-limited operation led to degradation of the cathode
emission due to ion bombardment of the surface of the
oxide cathode. Controversy on operation of the magnetron
cathode in the space-charge-limited versus temperature-
limited regime had been ongoing since the early 1950s.
Experimental conrmation as to the existence of a
low-noise state during temperature-limited operation of
an injected-beam amplier was provided by Little et al.
[72]. Noise was high when the cathode was operated in the
space-charge-limited state and low when in the tempera-
ture-limited state.
Analysis and digital trajectory calculations including
space charge effects were made by Dombrowski in 1957
for the magnetron and Amplitron. These computations
were based on adiabatic motion of the electrons, which
requires constant space charge density within a spoke as
predicated by Brown and discussed by Zettler and Dom-
browski [67] and employed by Feinstein [66]. An impor-
tant result of these trajectory calculations was the
conrmation that the RF voltage increased linearly along
the Amplitron circuit from input to output for a given
value of gain as predicted by theory [47] and experimen-
tally measured by Zettler [67]. The trajectory calculations
demonstrated that high electronic efciency occurs in the
high-eld-output section of the circuit, and provided in-
formation on cathode backbombardment power as a func-
tion of the assumed space charge distribution in the hub.
A movie of the rotating spokes of charge dramatically
showed electrons traversing the inputoutput vanes, thus
moving from a low RF potential to a high RF potential
region. Because of the inertia of the electrons, the max-
imum electron collection was not on the output vane but
rather occurred downstream from the output. The com-
puted distribution of anode electron collection had excel-
lent agreement with experiment. In addition, details of
the electron collection on the cathode were obtained. In-
formation on impact energy, angle of incidence, and spa-
tial distribution of electron collection about the
circumference of the cathode provided the impetus to in-
corporate a cold, secondary emitting platinum cathode
into high CW and pulsed power Amplitrons. A paper by
Dombrowski and Ruden [73] describes the abovemen-
tioned results. Additional information on magnetron
and Amplitron calculations can be found in a technical
report [74] dealing with self-consistent and adiabatic
space charge calculations, analog and digital trajectory
calculations, and the early development of a transient
space charge simulation program.
5.4. Transient Simulation
Transient calculations of the space charge in the crossed-
eld device were rst applied to the injected-beam
crossed-eld amplier by Sedin [75] followed by a mag-
netron calculation by Yu et al. [76]. ElectronRF wave
interaction occurred over a single wavelength and com-
peting circuit modes were not considered. A high degree
of turbulence of the space charge was found that
had originated in the hub of electrons surrounding the
cathode.
Based on the Yu analysis, single moving wavelength
particle-in-cell codes were developed by MacDowell [77]
for study of the magnetron and the CFA. The magnetron
simulations conrmed a turbulent hub condition and the
fact that primary and secondary emission dominated
states could exist. Turbulence was enhanced when
ROTATING ANODE
POTENTIAL WAVE
CATHODE
ELECTRON
ORBITS
A
N
O
D
E
M
M
M
M
Figure 18. Electron orbits in an eight-segment magnetron. (r
IEEE Trans. ED, 1976, H.A.H. Boot and J.T. Randall, Historical
notes on the cavity magnetron.)
MAGNETRONS 2499
secondary emission was present; turbulence associated
with primary emission was eliminated when a transition
was made from the space-charge-limited to the tempera-
ture-limited operation of the cathode.
A 2D transient code for the analysis of both the mag-
netron and the Amplitron was developed by Dombrowski
[78]. The code accounted for space charge effects and cir-
cuit modes but did not account for electromagnetic modes
associated with the volume of the vacuum envelope. A few
thousand electrons and timestep of 0.02 RF cycle were
used. Simulation results for the 2J32 magnetron were in
good agreement with experiment.
This code has been applied to a study of an X-band
beacon magnetron [79]. Experimentally this tube showed
the Gauss-line discontinuity phenomena. Computational-
ly, the discontinuity occurred at the onset of transition
from space-charge-limited operation of the cathode to tem-
perature-limited operation.
Another transient code called MASK was developed by
Chernin [80] to study the forward-wave crossed-eld am-
plier with space charge recirculating in the interaction
space between the output and input anode vanes. Circuit
properties are handled in a manner similar to that for the
Dombrowski code, and the entire interaction space, in-
cluding a drift space between output and input vanes, is
taken into account. This simulation predicts the transition
from a high-noise to a low-noise state at a given current
level, and a similar discontinuity in voltage as noted above
was also observed. Noise was about 20 dB lower than that
normally computed for this amplier design. This reduc-
tion of noise was achieved using a primary emitting cath-
ode. The low-noise state was not observed when a
secondary emission cathode was used. The results of this
simulation are in agreement with measurements made by
Ye et al. [81] showing the effect of secondary emission on
creating uctuations of the space charge. It was suggested
in this paper that low noise in the crossed-eld device
might be achieved if the use of the thermionic cathode be
reconsidered.
The above-described computations on low-noise, tem-
perature-limited cathode phenomena were highly inu-
enced by a series of measurement made by Brown on the
microwave cooking magnetron using a thoriatedtungsten
primary emitting cathode. A dramatic reduction of noise
was observed by Brown when the cathode was operated in
the temperature-limited state [82]. The details of this
transition are not understood, but a key observation by
Brown indicated that the transition from high to low noise
is associated with an increase in anode voltage at a given
current, and this appears to be supported by a number of
simulations. This phenomenon is believed to be somehow
related to the illusive Gauss-line discontinuity problem,
where, for the magnetron operating at a given current
level, the anode voltage will rise slightly and the magnet-
ron frequency will shift by a few megahertz. The Gauss
line discontinuity problem has not been observed in back-
ward-wave Amplitron devices [82]; however, the MASK
simulation for the forward-wave CFA shows this anomaly.
Analytic theory and an associated simulation code were
used by Schuenemann et al. [83] to compute the steady-
state spatial-harmonic operation of a K-band magnetron.
The p/2 mode of the rst backward space-harmonic unit
was employed. This mode is of interest for use in millime-
ter-wave magnetrons as it results in an increase in anode
and cathode dimensions with corresponding reduction in
power dissipation density. In addition, the strength of the
magnetic eld is markedly reduced hence minimizing size
and weight. The mode separation is large such that a
broad tuning range is possible. The computation was
made for an 8-mm unstrapped magnetron having a sec-
ondary emission cathode that provides for longlived oper-
ation at these wavelengths. The anode vane count was 16,
and for the p/2 mode the number of space charge spokes
computed was 12 as observed in the interaction space near
the anode. An important result was that additional bunch-
ing of the space charge occurred near the cathode. De-
pending on the circuit quality factor Q and level of the RF
voltage, the number of bunches near the cathode varied
between 4 and 6. The simulation thus predicted the pres-
ence of multistable states, the likelihood of which has con-
cerned crossed-eld researchers for many years.
Particle simulation studies on optimizing the perfor-
mance the spatial-harmonic magnetron has concentrated
on maximizing of the generated power as a function of the
anode resonator dimensions and anode Q [84]. Computa-
tions was made for an 8-mm magnetron operating at a
magnetic eld of 0.5875Twith operation on the backward-
wave space-harmonic. The presence of steady-state dual-
space-charge congurations was observed in the vicinity
of the cathode. The power generated for these two states
differed by approximately 3 dB. Further understanding of
these phenomena may provide insight into the magnetron
problem areas of mode shift, delayed start of oscillation,
high-cathode backbombardment at low currents, and
noise and spurious signal generation.
5.5. 2D and 3D Electromagnetic Simulation of
Crossed-Field Devices
The fully electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulation of the
crossed-eld device in general solves for electric and mag-
netic elds created by the charge in the interaction space
by solving Maxwells equations within the volume of the
device. The equations of motion include the static mag-
netic eld and account for relativistic effects. The simula-
tion is thus self-consistent in solving both time-dependent
and steady-state problems.
The early work of Palevesky et al. [85] on the relativ-
istic magnetron used an electromagnetic code to compute
the optimum power generated as function of magnetic
eld strength at a level somewhat higher than normally
employed in S-band magnetrons. The magnetron anode
was unstrapped, and it was determined early on that
steady-state operation could be obtained in the conven-
tional p mode or 2p mode depending on the cathode diam-
eter. Electromagnetic 2D Magic code simulations by
Stark et al. [86] and by Weatheral [87] using a single-
wavelength, rotating frame-of-reference, 2D code showed
that the RF magnetic eld had little effect on the interac-
tion process, and that the electron transit time was a frac-
tion of an RF period. When the RF anode voltage is
comparable to the applied DC voltage, the interaction is
2500 MAGNETRONS
no longer one of synchronism between the electrons and
the RF circuit wave but one of short-transit-time negative-
resistance oscillation [16] as proposed by Ruden [88].
Chan et al. [89], using the 2D Magic code to simulate
the relativistic magnetron, examined RF output power
and electron ow properties, scaling and dependence of
emission on fundamental system parameters, and the
effect of nite power-supply impedance.
Aspects of phase locking of a rising-sun, L-band, 100-
MW pulsed magnetron were studied using the 2D Magic
code by Chen et al. [90]. A technique was developed that
reveals the dynamical behavior of frequency and phase
during the phase-locking process. Without a drive signal,
the development of an oscillation takes 50100 RF cycles
and low-level noise is generated during this time interval.
With a locking drive signal the power buildup occurs with-
in 2030 cycles, and noise is almost completely eliminated.
An important application of the 2D Magic code by Jones
et al. [91] has been to introduce an analytical expression
for a variation of the axial magnetic eld magnetic eld in
azimuth in the interaction space of the magnetron. This
perturbation selectively develops the pi-mode space
charge conguration in the vicinity of the cathode. This
prebunching action results in rapid buildup of the mag-
netron oscillation to steady state.
5.6. 3D Simulation
A revision of the Magic code allows analysis of three-di-
mensional structures and has been applied to the rising-
sun magnetron, the strapped magnetron, and the relativ-
istic magnetron. The time to complete a simulation run
resulting in a steady-state solution is highly dependent on
the number of particles employed; runs of 40120 h are
common such that obtaining the performance of a device
over a wide range of operating parameters is rarely prac-
tical. It is difcult, therefore, to state whether the simu-
lation truly represents the actual performance of the
device. Perhaps limiting the number of particles is an op-
tion in obtaining a rough general view of the operation,
but in dealing quantitatively with starting processes and
noise generation mechanisms, it is probable that ne
detail will be required, and hence will require many par-
ticles. Users of the code have suggested modifying the code
to stop the computation after a number of cycles and then
to be able to restart the calculation with a change in
operating parameters such as, for example, voltage and
magnetic eld. This would allow a performance chart to be
readily developed from the data.
Kim et al. [92] have used the 3D Magic code to simulate
a 250-kW, 28-kV, X-band rising-sun magnetron. A study of
the modes of the rising-sun structure showed a discrep-
ancy between an analytic computation and the Magic sim-
ulation. The pi-mode frequency agreed with experiment,
but experimental data for the other modes were not pro-
vided. At the start of oscillation, leakage current to the
endspaces was reduced and single-frequency pi-mode os-
cillation was obtained. No other spoke congurations were
reported as occurring during buildup of the oscillation. It
is to be noted that the magnitude of the applied magnetic
eld and the anode voltage are ramped up in time. This
combination of time-varying voltage and magnetic eld
may inhibit the development of spokes (space charge per-
turbations) of varying periodicity in azimuth as the space
charge hub develops.
The 3D Magic code is capable of analyzing the strapped
magnetron. The understanding of the noise-generating
mechanisms and the nature of low-noise operation of the
microwave oven magnetron and commercial high-power
CW magnetrons is important relative to the level of noise
within the ISM band and at harmonic frequencies. Results
of Kim et al. [93] using the Magic code conrm the pi-mode
oscillation, and computed harmonics and higher modes as
determined by Magic have been compared to experimental
data. The possible competition of the adjacent p 1 mode
and details on other spurious oscillations are presently not
available. Modeling of a high-power CW magnetron with
and without straps has been done by Jung et al. [94]. Res-
onant frequencies, resonant modes, and higher harmonics
of the fundamental frequency were identied.
These efforts have been directed mainly at demonstrat-
ing the basic performance of the tubes. The important is-
sue of noise mechanisms has not been addressed at this
time. This issue is highly dependent on the cathode emis-
sion algorithm, and it is not clear whether the present
explosive and thermionic emission algorithms are ad-
equate for the study of noise close to the carrier.
Modeling of a strapped X-band magnetron MG5241 us-
ing 3D Magic is discussed in a paper by Ma et al. [95].
Basic resonant frequency computations agreed well with
experiment for both cold and hot tests. While experimen-
tal-versus-computed agreement was obtained for the in-
put voltage and current, the electronic efciency did not
agree. This problem has been addressed in the simulation
by accounting for leakage current due to end-hat emission
[96]. Concerns with regard to the cathode electron emis-
sion model have also been addressed. The emission models
as explosive emission and space-charge-limited emis-
sion are being replaced with a model that can be used to
vary the cathode emission density. This later emission
model has properties similar to those employed by the
Dombrowski magnetronAmplitron simulation [78]. Un-
published data obtained with the latter simulation code
suggest that the starting time of the magnetron is highly
dependent on the particular emission model. The space-
charge-limited model has a factor of roughly twice the
time delay of that of the temperature-limited model.
Finally, a major improvement [95] in the 3D Magic code
is the modeling of the cathode end hat, and modeling of the
actual variation of magnetic eld in the interaction space,
which has yielded simulation results very different from
those for the uniform eld. The ability to fully model vari-
ations in both the electric and magnetic elds and end-hat
geometry that affects electron leakage and connement in
the magnetron is important in the study of noise. (Note:
Experimental changes in end-hat design and magnetic
eld uniformity in the region of the cathode endspace
have reduced conductive noise in the microwave oven
magnetron 2M172A as compared to its predecessor the
2M172 [97].)
Two analyses of the relativistic magnetron have been
made using different 3D codes. Arter and Eastwood [98]
MAGNETRONS 2501
developed a 3D PIC code to model a mechanically-tuned
rising-sun magnetron design. A comparison of results of
the 3D simulation with a 2D simulation showed that maxi-
mum efciency occurs close to the BunemanHartree
threshold voltage. It is not clear whether this statement
holds for conditions approximating negative-resistance
oscillation. Simulation time corresponding to onset of
oscillation was some 100ns and computationally quite
long, placing a limit on the amount of performance data
that can be obtained. The simulations also show mode com-
petition that may terminate operation. This observation
may be related to one aspect of the upper current-mode
boundary limitation that occurs in many magnetrons and
CFAs. The simulations also indicate that one cause of
pulse shortening in magnetrons may be related to droop
of the voltage pulse. Suggested corrective action would be
to tailor the anode voltage to increase during the pulse.
Such pulseshaping may have application to the pulse short-
ening observed in relativistic magnetrons.
The 3D code Quicksilver developed by Lemke et al. [99]
has also provided a detailed analysis of operation of the
relativistic magnetron. The simulation addressed the
reproduction of the experimental results of the Palev-
skyBeke A6 magnetron [100]. The simulation provided
close agreement with experimental results and conrmed
that the use of endcaps markedly increases efciency by
reduction of leakage current. The pulse voltage feed to the
cathode can be either single-ended or double-ended. From
an electromagnetic perspective, potential problems as to
the effect of single-versus double-ended voltage feed on the
space charge close to the cathode have not been analyzed.
The operation of the relativistic magnetron at voltages
substantially above the BunemanHartree threshold as
compared to nonrelativistic magnetrons appears to sug-
gest that nonsynchronous interaction may be dominant.
Design criteria for high efciency in this regime have not
been met [88].
5.7. Analysis of the Crossed-Field Diode
The stability of the space charge in the crossed-eld diode
has been investigated over several years by researchers at
the University of Michigan. Mechanisms that limit the
current in a crossed-eld gap were analyzed by Christen-
son and Lau [101] using PDP1, a one-dimensional elec-
trostatic particle-in-cell (PIC) code [102], investigating the
transition from laminar to turbulent ow in the space-
charge sheath under conditions of cutoff and the excitation
of a modulational instability caused by small AC voltages
applied across the gap. Christenson et al. [103] also found
that crossed-eld cycloidal ows are extremely unstable
even when the emission current density is a small fraction
of the limiting value. A small resistance in the external
circuit, a small RF voltage, or a small tilt in the magnetic
eld would disrupt the cycloidal ow; the end result is al-
ways a near-Brillouin state that consists of the classical
Brillouin ow superimposed on a turbulent background.
The sensitivity of the crossed-eld diode to asymmetry
of emission about the cathode surface is illustrated by dis-
turbing the uniform emission with nonemission sites, as
shown by Ruden et al. [104]. This simulates nonuniform
emission from the surface of the cathode. It is found that a
transition occurs from the stable diode state to one con-
sisting of azimuthally bunched clusters with azimuth pe-
riodicity dependent on the time of evolution. This
phenomenon is akin to that of the azimuth magnetic eld
effects described above. As time progresses, the perturbed
diode states interact with one another, producing turbu-
lence. This chaotic behavior leads to the creation of
streams of secular electrons beyond the crude hub layer.
Such bunching and secular electrons have been observed
in both 2D electrostatic codes and 2D/3D electromagnetic
codes but are not at all understood. These phenomena ap-
pear to have some relationship to that described by
Schuenemann [83] and may be some what dependent on
the model employed for electron emission from the
cathode.
Luginsland et al. [105], applying the 3D Magic code to
the strapped cooker magnetron, extended the 2D simu-
lations described above [91] to show that the periodic
placement of permanent magnets about the anode cylin-
der results in fast startup of the magnetron and demon-
strated that under DC operating conditions both sideband
spurious signals and noise generated at low anode cur-
rents can be eliminated or greatly reduced.
6. THE NOISE PROBLEM
The cooker magnetron is a great success because it is ef-
cient besides being inexpensive. It seems, however, that
a concomitant of efciency is noise or an array of spuri-
ous signals. This subject has been prominent in all vari-
eties of magnetrons and its derivatives and helped trigger
the extensive computer modeling (see Section 5) of ampli-
er and oscillators derived from the magnetron. Even be-
fore World War II it was recognized [8] that the magnetron
space charge was unstable without a circuit and that even
with a circuit there remained numerous sources of anom-
alous noiseincluding discrete signals anywhere in the
spectrum.
Many studies [106] of the magnetron diode showed that
the magnetron space charge, through its instability, gen-
erated signals that were voltage-tunable and correspond-
ed to conditions of velocity resonance of n spokes of space
charge revolving around the cathode, thus yielding fre-
quencies that obeyed empirical relationships such as
f
n
k=nV
a
=B 15
where k is some constant, n is a mode number correspond-
ing to the number of space charge perturbations or
spokes around the cathode, and V
a
and B are the anode
voltage and magnetic eld, respectively. This space charge
instability in crossed elds was dubbed [106] the diocot-
ron effect by researchers at CSF (Compagnie Generale de
Telegraphie Sans Fil). Those workers in France along with
counterparts in the United States [107] found that a sat-
isfying theory could be found for the analogous instabili-
ties in a thin beam moving through crossed elds, but
theoretical studies of the full magnetron space charge
remain controversial if not intractable to this day. In
2502 MAGNETRONS
addition such linear beam interaction theories were able
to predict thresholds for spurious sidebands in M-type
backward-wave oscillators (BWO). In this tube the basic
issues are exactly when the beam-circuit interaction re-
sults in start of oscillations at the desired frequency and
when it further allows spurious sidebands to be gener-
ated. The answers, in terms of starting currents, can be
derived from the small-signal theories. One nds as beam
current is raised rst a starting current for the desired
oscillation and at some higher starting current (perhaps
23 times higher ) the generation of sidebands at a fre-
quency Df, which is of the order of 12% of the desired
oscillation frequency. At still higher currents the side-
bands may begin to show their own sidebands and soon
there will be noise sidebands in place of discrete coher-
ent spurious signals. This pattern corresponds to the gen-
eral pattern of modern chaotic phenomena [108]. The
small-signal theories [106,107] for the thin beam provide a
satisfying framework for predicting the regions of current
with different noise. This theory employs two parame-
ters, one, which we call p, proportional to beam current
and another, which we call q, which is proportional to cir-
cuit eld strength or its coupling impedance. One nds
that if qbp, then space charge effects are minimum, but if
pbq, then space charge effects are dominant. No such
theory exists for the magnetron (see Section 5). One can
perceive, however, the pattern for chaos in the magnet-
ron in analogy to the M-type BWO. In Section 4, we
showed that as anode current is raised, we pass succes-
sively through preoscillation, noise, discrete spurious sig-
nals, and nally no-noise or low-noise (quiet) regions.
Note that this succession with magnetron anode current is
inverse to that in the M-BWO with beam current. This is
because the true analog in the magnetron to beam current
is not anode current but the rotating space charge current.
This rotating current and the attendant space charge den-
sity is reasonably the highest before start of oscillation (at
approximately zero anode current) and then decreases as
anode current draws off some of the rotating current.
Space charge effects thus can cause the appearance of
many spurious signals and noise in the cooker magnetron,
especially because it passes through all regions from
preoscillation to the quiet state during each cycle. (In
contrast, Brown has proposed [82] DC operation of mag-
netronlike devices in the quiet region as a way of min-
imizing noise.)
Besides all the possible signals and noise deriving from
space charge effects, there are also a multitude of signals
that can result from more conventional electroncircuit
interaction, recognizing that the anode structure is char-
acterized by many resonant modes. Furthermore, even
though the successful type of interaction in the magnetron
is one of velocity synchronism or resonance, there are
other modes of interaction related to the cyclotron inter-
action principle. We can most easily discuss the relevant
principles by using the language of simple linear beam
interaction, where there is a beam moving with velocity v
e
and a circuit-supported wave of electric eld moving at a
speed (phase velocity) v
0
. It is necessary at this point to
introduce some notation for this wave that derives from
modern understanding of periodic structures [6]. When
power is transmitted through or along a periodic structure
there is an innite set of spatial harmonics that make up
the total propagating disturbance. Some of these harmon-
ics, which can include the fundamental with longest
wavelength, propagate in the same direction as the power
ow. We call these harmonics or waves direct spatial
harmonics. There is also a corresponding set of harmonics,
which can include the fundamental (but not at the same
time as the alternate possibility referred to above) that
propagate in the direction opposite to the power ow. We
call these spatial harmonics reverse.
Now in general beamcircuit interaction there is the
beam direction, which we will call forward; then there is
the direction of power ow on the circuit, which we call
forward if in the same direction as the beam and back-
ward if in the direction opposite to the beam. Then there
are several alternate resonance or interaction conditions.
The rst is velocity resonance:
V
e
V
0
or c=v
e
c=v
0
16
This corresponds to most conventional interactions in any
circuit mode as described in the Hartree voltage relation
(14). In addition there are cyclotron-mode interactions
for which the resonance relations are
c=v
0
c=v
e
1 l=l
c
17
where l c/f, where f is the operating or interacting fre-
quency and l
c
c/f
c
, where f
c
is the cyclotron frequency.
There are a considerable variety in the possible inter-
actions for which the resonance relations (16) and (17)
apply. These are depicted in Fig. 19, which is a c/vl plot,
the equivalent of the more popular o/b chart, but in which
the relations for resonance are more easily pictured. We
see that for the velocity resonance condition (16) that the
normal situation applies where a forward-wave amplier
exists only with interaction with a direct harmonic wave
(FD0) and backward-wave oscillation occurs only with a
reverse harmonic (BR0). But equation (17) shows that
with the fast wave cyclotron resonance case [a minus in
Eq. (17) and the downward branch in Fig. 19] we can have
forward-wave amplication with a reverse harmonic
(FR

) as well as backward-wave oscillation with a direct

harmonic (BD

). We conclude that there is a rich variety

of possible resonance interactions that could lead to signal
generation in a magnetron during moding or even in the
presence of the desired oscillation. Classical nonlinear
theory [7,15,106] would suggest that the presence of a
strong oscillation should suppress buildup of any compet-
ing oscillation. This may be true in general when the same
interaction mechanism applies for the two competing
modes. But because the cyclotron resonance is indepen-
dent or in a sense orthogonal to velocity resonance, the
two may possibly coexist. In any case there have been a
number of experimental observations of simultaneous os-
cillations in magnetrons, and certainly they exist at seri-
ous noise levels of concern to regulators even though
they are far from the power level in the p mode.
In addition, some oscillations are connected with
endspace resonances. These were observed in early
MAGNETRONS 2503
magnetron work [15], and more recently they have been
observed as out-of-band signals from cooker magnetrons
[109]. Note that these axial oscillations tend to strength-
en with current up to the peak current while many spu-
rious signals occur only at low or moderate currents.
It is no surprise that the magnetron emits a copious
amount of spurious signals and noise across the whole
spectrum. In Fig. 20 we see a typical baseband spectrum
measured near a microwave oven. Much, if not most, of
this energy is associated with spurious space charge phe-
nomena, but not all. Some of it is due to axial oscillations,
and some signals defy explanation. In Fig. 21 we see a
typical spectrum around the main signal at B2.45GHz.
The expected sidebands are in evidence. In Fig. 22 we
show a typical result of a compliance test for a microwave
oven across the spectrum from 1 to 18 GHz. Only the more
prominent signals are shown, signals at harmonic fre-
quencies are expected, but their behavior is not always
understood. Other signals are difcult to explain, and in
some cases there is reason to believe that parametric in-
teractions [110] may be operating. In Fig. 23 we see a typ-
ical waveform for an out-of-band signal, which occurs
mostly at low and moderate anode current and thus oc-
curs only during a millisecond or so at the beginning and
end of the 50/60-Hz half-cycle when the tube is operating.
This opens up the possibility of avoiding interference from
the magnetron by transmitting information only when the
magnetron is not emitting noise. It should not be forgotten
that there are, however, signals, sometimes at peak cur-
rentsas in the case of axial oscillations.
The bottom line is that inherently the cooker magnet-
ron is a prolific noise generator that is compounded in the
microwave oven application by all variables such as cur-
rent, stirrer positions, and temperature load changes. For
this reason, special attention was devoted to the develop-
ment of emission limits for microwave ovens. In Tables 2
and 3 we list the limits [111] issued by the CISPR com-
mittee of the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commit-
tee). Those in Table 2 are for the frequency range below
1 GHz and are quasipeak limits, while Table 3 applies to
frequencies above 1GHz and presents peak limits. While
some relaxation is given in the lower sideband region, the
limits are tightened elsewhere, particularly around the
fth harmonic, which is close to some satellite TV bands.
Note that as of yet, the compliance tests apply only to time
after the oven and magnetron have started. The noise and
moding signals during the moding period shown in Fig. 16
are not measured or regulated.
Noise and radiofrequency interference are becoming
more serious issues as expanding wireless systems [112]
develop in the microwave bands above 1 GHz. Of particu-
lar concern are the systems that share the ISM band at
2.45 GHz, but there exists RFI potential in many other
BD
BR
FR
FD
FD
FD0
FD0
FD+
BR+
BR0
FR
z
z
c
C
V
e
C
V
Figure 19. Diagram depicting various interaction modes in
a crossed-eld tube on the c/vl chart for periodic structure
propagation.
CTR 1.0008 GHz SPAN 200 MHz/
REF 10 dBm 10 dB/ ATTEN 0 dB SWP 50 msec/
RES BW 300 kHz VF OFF
Figure 20. A typical baseband spectrum measured near a modern
microwave oven (lower curve is background). (This gure is avail-
able in full color at http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/erfme.)
CTR 2.5005 GHz SPAN 100 MHz/
REF 10 dBm 10 dB/ ATTEN 0 dB SWP 50 msec/
RES BW 300 kHz VF OFF
Figure 21. Typical spectrum around 2.45GHz emitted by a mod-
ern microwave oven.
2504 MAGNETRONS
bandsFor example, in the satellite radio band located
between 2.3 and 2.4 GHz.
Heretofore magnetron developers and manufactures
have found no easy solution to the noise problem, and
it is not likely that one is forthcoming soon. In the mean-
time oven manufacturers must employ a wide variety of
xes, sometimes with ingenuity, in the face of such a com-
plex set of phenomena. Note that simple ltering is not the
answer, even if it were cost-effective. Filters that reect
energy can also modify the harmonic levels and other sig-
nal levels in the magnetron as well. Still a better under-
standing of the origin of the signals in the magnetron will
be helpful, and much work remains in this area.
7. TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Two devices that have demonstrated excellent perfor-
mance employ technology that is important in obtaining
low-noise operation of the crossed-eld device and power
generation at millimeter wavelengths. The voltage-tuned
magnetron is discussed relative to both noise and a more
recent millimeter-wave application, and the beacon mag-
netron for its high-frequency design features. Both devices
have required marked attention to manufacturing details
to achieve a high level of performance.
Technology developments for commercial, industrial,
and military applications include injection locking of the
magnetron, cathode-driven CFA, millimeter-wave tubes
and harmonic generation, high peak and average power
CFA, relativistic magnetron, and large anode area devices
for high-power microwave (HPM) and millimeter-wave
applications.
2
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
4 6
Frequeny range 1 18 GHz
Pre-test 118 GHz RF emission at turnable position 0 Antenna V
limits failed margin4,1dB
L
e
v
e
l

d
B
j
V
/
m
8 10 12 14 16 18
Figure 22. Chart of measured microwave oven
emissions in a test for compliance with CISPR 11
limits.
CTR 2.7309 GHz SPAN 1 kHz/
REF 10 dBm 10 dB/ ATTEN 0 dB SWP 10 msec/
RES BW 300 kHz VF OFF
Figure 23. Waveform of a typical out-of-band signal emitted
froma microwave oven (spectrumanalyzer in line sync condition).
Table 2. CISPR11 Limits on Microwave Oven Emissions at
10m, and 01GHz
Electric Field
Magnetic
Field
Frequency Band
(MHz)
Quasipeak
[dB(mV/m)]
Average
[DB(mV/m)]
Quasipeak
[dB(mA/m)]
0.1530 39
Decreasing linearly
with logarithm
of frequency
to 3
3080.872 30 25
80.87281.848 50 45
81.848134.786 30 25
134.786136.414 50 45
135.414230 30 25
2301000 37 32
Table 3. CISPR 11 Limits on Microwave Oven Emissions
a
at 3m and 118GHz
Frequency Band (GHz) Field Strength [dB(mV/m)]
Peak
12.3 92
2.32.4 110
2.55,725 92
5.87511.7 92
11.712.7 73
12.718 92
Average
12.4 60
2.55.725 60
5.87518 60
a
Out-of-band emissions limited to 70dB(mV/m) peak or both peak and av-
erage limits listed above; resolution bandwidth of 1 MHz; average mea-
surements with 10 Hz video bandwidth.
MAGNETRONS 2505
7.1. The Voltage-Tuned Magnetron: Past Performance and
Potential Application
The voltage-tuned magnetron (VTM) has had application
as a low-power, CW, microwave signal source at frequen-
cies extending from 200 MHz to above 10 GHz. At power
levels of milliwatts to a few watts, these devices are
capable of being tuned over a 2/1 and 3/1 range of fre-
quency. High-power tubes have 1030% tuning range,
which depends on the frequency band. These tubes have
been used in electronic countermeasures and as general
sources of microwave power for test and evaluation of
microwave systems. Typical VTM performance is 400W
(minimum) from 2.7 to 3.5 GHz at 65% efciency and
100W from 9 to 10GHz at about 50% efciency.
A paper by Weinstein and Winkowski [113] summa-
rized the status of the VTM as of 1977. These devices are
magnetically shielded, typically integrated with wideband
isolators to permit operation into variable load impedance,
can be conduction-cooled as a result of high efciency, are
robust in terms of operation under extreme vibration
and shock conditions, generate very low noise, and have
excellent shelf life.
To achieve wide tuning, the VTM employs an interdig-
ital anode circuit [114]. The transmission-line circuit is
closed on itself in a manner similar to that for the con-
ventional magnetron anode with phase shift of 1801 be-
tween anode electrodes thus operating in the pi mode. The
transmission line can be heavily and uniformly coupled to
the load for wide frequency tuning at low power, and nom-
inally coupled for limited tuning at high power.
In the conventional magnetron operating under a con-
dition of space-charge-limited emission an increase in an-
ode voltage produces an increase in anode current. This is
accompanied by a small shift in frequency termed push-
ing. In the VTM an electron gun injects electrons axially
into the interaction space between a dummy cathode elec-
trode and the anode. The current injected into the inter-
action space is controlled by adjustment of a voltage
applied to a control electrode in the gun. A change in an-
ode voltage at constant anode current produces a change
in the azimuth angular velocity of the electrons with an
associated increase in frequency such that synchronism is
maintained between the rotating electrons and the RF
voltage wave supported by the anode circuit. The oscilla-
tion frequency is directly proportional to the anode volt-
age. By sweeping the anode voltage, the frequency can be
modulated at rates of 60 MHz. Higher rates can be ob-
tained by aboveground operation of the anode (positive
anode operation).
High-power CW tubes with tuning of 1020% have a
spectrum quality that exceeds that obtained from high-Q
magnetrons. Limited published data [115] show a noise
level of 110 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset from the carrier and
150 dBc/Hz extending from 100kHz to 100MHz. Other
data at 30 MHz offset from the carrier the noise are
160 dBc/Hz and harmonic power 60 dBc [116]. The
close-in noise data are consistent with those obtained from
the microwave cooker magnetron when operated with a
thoriated tungsten cathode operated in the temperature-
limited regime. The data suggest that the VTM may be an
ideal vehicle for the study of crossed-eld noise generating
mechanisms.
It is expected that injection locking of the VTM would
further reduce the noise close to the carrier. Since with an
injected beam the electron stream is located at large radii,
it is probable the locking gain will be higher than that of
the conventional magnetron.
A possible application of the VTM principle is to excite
multimode microwave cavities for improving the heating
or processing of materials and for the generation of large-
volume gaseous plasmas. Multikilowatt power can be gen-
erated using the vane and strapped S- and C-band mag-
netron circuits with an axially injected electron beam. The
cost of a high-power VTM would be substantially lower
than the cost of the traveling-wave tube previously con-
sidered for such applications.
Low unit cost, compact size, low weight, excellent spec-
trum quality, and high reliability under shock and vibra-
tion conditions suggest that the VTM is a potential
competitor with the beacon magnetron in airborne
transponder applications. The VTM should also have ap-
plication as highly stabilized, tunable oscillator at milli-
meter wavelengths for radar applications. A high-power,
injection-locked harmonic generator is based on the VTM
principle is discussed below.
7.2. Beacon Magnetron
The beacon magnetron is a high-frequency, low-peak-pow-
er and average-power magnetron optimized for frequency
and pulse stability, low jitter, ruggedness, and reliability,
which are critical parameters for use in beacon, transpon-
der, fuze, weather, and marine radar applications [117].
This is achieved by design improvements such as making
the cathode more rugged, temperature compensation, and
output matching to control frequency pulling (change in
magnetron frequency with variation of load VSWR). Fre-
quency pushing is controlled by careful interaction space
design and by suitably mating the magnetron to the mod-
ulator to ensure generation of a at-top current pulse. Low
pulse to pulse frequency jitter and pulse starting-time jit-
ter is obtained by ensuring adequate and uniform cathode
emission, careful vacuum processing of the tube, and op-
timization of the rate of rise of the modulator voltage
pulse. Size and weight reduction has been generally
achieved with optimizing the design of magnet pole
pieces and Alnico magnet location [118].
A design approach presented by Hobbs [119] that pro-
vides additional advantages is that of the positive anode
magnetron. The magnetron anode is isolated from ground
and pulsed positively; the cathode and magnet pole struc-
ture are grounded. Axial beam connement is done by
the magnet pole tips now placed closer to the anode. This
reduces the amount of magnetic material required to pro-
vide the necessary eld level and results in improved uni-
formity of the eld. Use of the higher-reluctance Alnico
materials or the rare-earth cobalt materials allows place-
ment of the magnet close to the interaction space, reduces
energy loss, and again reduces magnet and return path
size and weight.
2506 MAGNETRONS
The cathode and the magnet pole tips are at the same
DC potential, which allows more accurate centering of the
cathode with respect to the anode via the use of thermally
insulating spacers near the interaction space. Both elec-
tric and magnetic elds in the interaction space are more
uniform with the result of reduced starting jitter and low-
er startup noise, lower frequency pushing, and cleaner
spectra. Efciency is improved by about 5% as compared to
the conventional beacon structure. Typical peak power for
xed-tune devices at X band is 110 kWat 0.001 duty fac-
tor and 0.15.0 ms pulsewidth, and weight and volume are
approximately 0.6lb and 7 in
3
.
The beacon magnetron design philosophy has been car-
ried over to the millimeter-wave regime. Noise suppres-
sion and tuning over a nite frequency range is managed
via injection locking as discussed below.
7.3. Injection Locking
Injection locking of the magnetron is the control the fre-
quency of the free-running magnetron oscillation by
means of an external drive signal. The magnitude of the
locking signal affects the locking bandwidth; specifically,
the change of oscillator frequency Df controllable by the
drive frequency is determined by
Df 2f
0
=Q
e
P
in
=P
out

1=2
18
where f
0
is the frequency of the free-running magnetron,
the ratio P
out
/P
in
is the pseudogain, and Q
e
is the external
quality factor of the magnetron. Depending on the partic-
ular magnetron, the drive power necessary to provide fre-
quency locking can vary from 10 to 30 dB below the
carrier. Larger bandwidth is obtained at the higher drive
levels. In addition, higher drive reduces both the time to
achieve lock from the start of buildup of oscillations, and
in the steady-state locked condition the noise level close to
the carrier is reduced as compared to that of the free-run-
ning oscillator [118].
Data on phase noisefrequency offset from the carrier
for a pulsed, 10W, X-band positive anode magnetron
MA2829 was obtained by Hobbs [120]. With a magnetron
Q
e
of 185 and gain of 10dB, the coherent bandwidth was
0.34%. From 1 to 100kHz offset the noise was reasonably
at at 113dBc/Hz at center frequency while improving
at the lower band edge to 115dBc/Hz and degrading to
100dBc/Hz at the upper band edge. With a Q
e
of 80, cor-
responding to increased coupling to the load, the coherent
bandwidth was increased to 4%. The noise over the same
offset range as above was a minimum at 115dBc/Hz at
center frequency. The noise was 111dBc/Hz at the lower
band edge and 108dBc/Hz at the upper band edge, rep-
resenting an overall improvement at the lower value of Q
e
.
These noise data are consistent with results of English
[121] and Garrigus [122] where noise for injection-
locked magnetrons lies within the range from 120 to
90 dBc/Hz.
A marked improvement in the noise of the injection
locked microwave oven magnetron has been obtained by
Brown [123]. The technique employed was to reduce the
lament power to the magnetron such that the tube
operated in a temperature-limited emission regime as
compared to the conventional a space-charge-limited re-
gime. Historically, prior to 1958 it was recognized that op-
eration of the magnetron had reduced noise when
operated with the cathode temperature-limited as com-
pared to the same magnetron operating in the space-
charge-limited state. It was also recognized that cathodes
available at that time tended to lose emission (poison)
when operated temperature-limited. Concern on magnet-
ron life and reliability hindered further research at that
time. Research on developing a low-noise magnetron op-
erating with space-charge-limited emission was pursued
but has not been achieved to date.
The carburized thoriated tungsten cathode employed in
the microwave oven magnetron is quite stable under tem-
perature-limited operation. The low-noise performance
potentially has application to commercial and industrial
magnetrons and to crossed-eld devices that might be
considered for use in the area of microwave power trans-
mission. CW testing of the oven magnetron at reduced
magnetron lament power has shown improved noise per-
formance for both the free-running oscillator and for the
injection-locked oscillator (directional magnetron ampli-
er) with the lowest noise measured when the magnetron
frequency is controlled by a drive signal. The measured
noise can be as low as 197dBc/Hz with the imposed
conditions of temperature-limited operation of the cathode
and the introduction of a cathode impedance that mini-
mizes resonant coupling to the cathode.
A comprehensive historical review of magnetron and
crossed-eld amplier noise has been prepared by Brown
[123], and details of the experiments and noise measure-
ments have been documented [124].
An approach to increase the locking bandwidth while
maintaining the frequency and phase stability of the co-
herent drive source by the cascading of injection-locked
magnetrons has been described [121]. The advantage of
cascading is illustrated by the following example.
Example. A basic X-band 1-kW magnetron with a of Q
e
40
and coherent drive source of 10 W provides a 50MHz lock-
ing bandwidth. The bandwidth is adequate to overcome
environmental frequency drifts, resulting in a coherent
frequency power source such as, for example, missile fuze
systems and weather radar. If two magnetrons were cas-
caded, the 10W drive source would produce a bandwidth
of 158MHz. It was projected that a fractional bandwidth of
2% at 1013dB gain per stage was achievable.
At Ku band the noise output of an injection-locked
magnetron chain was less than 105dBc/Hz. This value
is within the general range of injection-locked noise from
120 to 90 dBc/Hz.
7.4. Cathode-Driven Crossed-Field Amplier
Marked improvement in both gain and noise of the
crossed-eld amplier has been obtained with a modied
Amplitron experimental device where an RF drive signal
is applied to both an anode and cathode slow-wave struc-
ture [125]. The standard S-band CFA typically operated at
1015 dB gain and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 4550dB/
MHz. The modied S-band CFA provided gain of 20 dB
MAGNETRONS 2507
and noise-level values of 75 dB/MHz, which is comparable
to that achieved by injection-locked magnetrons and lin-
ear beam devices. The noise level is consistent with that
required for high-power radar applications.
These data are consistent with identifying the noise
generating regime in the CFA as being related to mecha-
nisms associated with the continuous cathode. The data
are also in accord with previously described voltage-tun-
able magnetron low-noise data where the electron stream
is provided by axial injection into the interaction space
rather than a concentric anodecathode geometry.
7.5. Voltage-Tunable Frequency Multiplier
The application of the principles of the voltage-tuned mag-
netron to achieve frequency multiplication has resulted in
a tube design that has potential for millimeter-wave ap-
plications. Two VTM-like devices are cascaded within a
single vacuum envelope. The coupling between the two
circuits is performed by the rotating, bunched, and axially
traveling space charge developed in the input VTMsection.
The input circuit consists of an interdigital line structure
coupled to a quasitoroidal resonator. A low-Q composite
resonator system is formed that supports a pi-mode voltage
distribution on the interdigital ngers. The output struc-
ture has a similar circuit, but the number of interdigital
ngers is multiplied by the harmonic number [126].
The harmonic operation of the device is dependent on
creation of space charge spokes that have high harmonic
content, which in turn is dependent on the spatial distri-
bution of the electrons in the spoke. Numerical simulation
of the space charge should play a role in determining the
space charge harmonic content as a function of the design
and operating parameters.
The device can operate in one of two ways: (1) the drive
circuit can be allowed to oscillate, and the resultant space
charge will drive the output circuit; or (2) alternatively a
low-power locking signal can be applied to the drive circuit
at the fundamental frequency. This signal is used to con-
trol the space charge and frequency of the input device
and results in an effective power gain from the output cir-
cuit. The phase of the output signal is determined by the
phase of the input signal.
An output power of 430W was obtained in the 10 cm
wavelength range when operating at the fourth harmonic
of the fundamental frequency of the drive circuit. Gain
was 23 dB, electronic efciency was 52%, and the tube op-
erated over a frequency band of 15%. The frequency was
linear with a voltage that is consistent with voltage-tun-
able magnetron operation.
The pi-mode interdigital circuit provides bandwidth
but will have limited average power capability at high
frequencies. The use of the unstrapped-vane-type
magnetron circuit, which is capable of high average pow-
er when operating in a non-pi space-harmonic mode, may
be applicable to the dual-circuit VTM concept.
7.6. Millimeter-Wave Sources
7.6.1. Magnetron Millimeter-Wave Sources. Early milli-
meter-wave magnetrons used the rising-sun anode struc-
ture and operated in the pi mode. The Amperex DX287
developed in 1966 generated power at a xed frequency
close to 95 GHz. The tube delivered 10 kW of RF power at
pulsewidths between 5 and 200 nanoseconds (ns) and at
duty cycles up to 0.0002. Efciency was about 8%, and us-
ing an impregnated type cathode the life was B500h. The
tubes operated stably into a load VSWR of 1.51. Perma-
nent, stabilized magnets of ticonal weighing 15 lb were
employed [127].
Improvements in the millimeter-wave magnetron have
focused on using samariumcobalt magnet structures to
reduce size and weight, cathode design capable of provid-
ing the high emission densities compatible with achieving
high average power, high reliability, and long life. The
EEV MG5294 95 GHz magnetron, delivers 2.5 kW, a 50 ns
pulsewidth, and a duty cycle of 0.0002 corresponding to
0.5 W of average power. Maximum load VSWR is 1.31;
typical test VSWR is 1.151. The tube has an overall
length of 5.8 in. diameter of 2.6in. and weight of 2lb [128].
Substantial progress has also been made since the mid-
1990s using the unstrapped magnetron anode operating
in a space harmonic of the fundamental [129]. Typical
performance at 95 GHz is 4 kW peak power and 2 W aver-
age power at a pulse duration of 50200 ns and a pulse
repetition frequency of 5 kHz (maximum). The magnetron
is packaged with a solid-state modulator; total volume is
183 in.
3
and weight is 8.8lb. The transmitter is designed
for airborne applications. Space-harmonic millimeter-
wave magnetrons have also been employed in practical
radar systems [130,131].
Research on alternate M-type oscillators at millimeter
wavelengths is being carried out by Kulagin and Ye-
ryomka [132]. The RF circuit is that of the unstrapped
magnetron with an axial injected large-orbit electron
stream. Operation at lower values of magnetic eld and
voltage is possible when compared to the magnetron op-
erating in the pi mode with small-orbit electron streams
originating from the conventional continuous cathode,
which is concentric with the anode. Typical analytical re-
sults are wavelength of B1.9mm, anode voltage of 2kVat
a magnetic eld of 0.5T, and efciency of 12%. Additional
reduction in magnetic eld is possible by the use of the
interaction of the large-orbit stream with an anode space
harmonic [133].
Typical applications for millimeter-wave magnetrons
as sources are active missile terminal homing systems,
detection of small stationary targets, high-resolution sur-
veillance and MTI radar, and lightweight radars in re-
motely piloted vehicles.
7.6.2. Millimeter-Wave High-Gain Crossed-Field Amplier.
Research was undertaken in the late 1980s by
Macmaster and Nichols [134] on a new approach for a
crossed-eld device to achieve high peak and average pow-
er at millimeter wavelengths. The device has a large-area
anode consisting of axially aligned, staggered slots in the
anode cylinder wall. A continuous cathode is mounted ex-
ternal to and concentric with the anode cylinder creating
an inverted crossed-eld interaction space. The anode cyl-
inder with a center conductor forms a coaxial TE
01
-mode
waveguide that transforms to circular waveguide at the
input and output. The slots couple RF energy from the
2508 MAGNETRONS
interaction space into the waveguide, and power growth
occurs within the coaxial waveguide along the length of
the anode. At 34 GHz a peak power of 15.5 kW and 140W
of average power was obtained at a gain of 10 dB. To dem-
onstrate somewhat higher average power capability of the
circuit and cathode, the tube was operated at 4 kW peak
power, 200W average power, and 8 dB gain. Earlier ver-
sions amplied a frequency between 35 and 36.25 GHz at a
power of 50 kW peak, 88 Waverage, and 10 dB gain. Max-
imum recorded peak and average power was 58 kW
at 230W.
The geometry of this device is such that an RF circuit
can be readily located on the cathode to enhance gain and
overall performance. A cathode-driven Ka-band device has
not been tested.
7.7. The Electromagnetic Amplifying Lens
A very-large-area anodecathode crossed-eld axial gain
device with potential for generating exceptionally high
peak and average power at millimeter wavelengths is the
electromagnetic amplifying lens or EAL designed by
Brown and Dombrowski [135]. A number of crossed-eld
tube research programs were carried out in parallel with
the EAL design effort [136]. These programs have been
briefly reviewed in a paper by Ruden et al. [137]. None of
these efforts succeeded in developing a high-frequency,
high-power amplier. As discussed below, the evaluation
of the EAL has yet to be completed.
An X-band, 100-MW-peak-power, prototype EAL em-
ploying a platinum secondary emitting cathode was fab-
ricated and tested. However, the available drive power
required the device to operate at greater than 20 dB gain.
The device oscillated at a frequency well removed from the
design frequency and failed to amplify. It was estimated
that a drive power of 10 MW would be required to achieve
a nominal gain of 10 dB. Other techniques that could be
used to achieve amplication are the incorporation of an
RF drive circuit on the cathode to provide strong RF elds
at the cathode, operation of the device in the low-magnet-
ic-eld regime to enhance interaction near the anode be-
tween the electron stream and the RF circuit, and the use
of an axial injected electron beam as in the voltage tuned
magnetron to provide a temperature-limited, current-con-
trolled electron beam.
7.8. Magnetron for Medical Applications
A 9.3-GHz magnetron of 1.8MW peak power has been de-
veloped for radiotherapy [138]. The device uses rare-earth
magnets, which results in a compact package meeting
the system requirements. Lower-frequency magnetrons
have been used extensively in this area. Operation of a
representative pulsed S-band magnetron as described by
Konrad [139] is 2.6 MW peak power and 3.1 kW average
with a 4.2ms pulse duration, and a tuning range of 9 MHz.
Electromagnets are used to provide the magnetic eld,
and adjustment of eld allows operation at various power
levels such that the X-ray energy can be varied. Projected
need for peak power magnetrons are 3.5 and 6MW at S
band and 2.5 MWat X band. Increased tube reliability and
lower unit cost are key manufacturing goals.
7.9. High-Peak- and Average-Power UHF Magnetrons
A paper by Wynn et al. [138] discusses the development of
a 915-MHz pulsed magnetron operating at millisecond
pulselength and high duty cycle. The magnetron is a
strapped device and operates at higher than normal mag-
netic eld levels, which enhance the efciency of the de-
vice [52,140]. Various pulsed tubes have provided the
following performance: magnetron with agile tuning of
60 MHz operated at 250 kW peak power at 25 kW average
and an efciency of 85%; xed-frequency magnetron oper-
ation at 600 kW peak power at 300kW average and 85%
efciency, and 1200 kW peak power at 300kW average.
A 300-kW CW L-band magnetron, model CWM-300L,
whose design was based on the commercially available 75-
kW CW magnetron, model CWM-75L, has been developed
[141]. The 300-kW tube operates at 32 kV and 10 A. The
conversion efciency is greater than 90%.
7.10. Relativistic Magnetron
In more recent years experimental work on the relativistic
magnetron has centered on devices operating at pulsed
voltages of a few hundred kilovolts and the generation of
peak power from hundreds of kilowatts to gigawatts. A
paper by Taylor and Younan [142] discusses the effects of
high-power microwave illumination. Topics discussed are
electrical effects, effects on electronics, hardening against
high-power microwave illumination (including shielding
and ltering), and high-power microwave weapons.
The technical status of the relativistic magnetron is
reviewed by Saveliev [143]. Design issues as effective an-
odecathode gap, uniformity of electron emission, anode
cathode gap closure velocity, voltagecurrent characteris-
tics as a function of end caps, microwave characteristics as
operating frequency and mode structure, and mode com-
petition are discussed.
An alternate relativistic magnetron design is described
by Schnitzer et al. [144], which combines coaxial magnet-
ron and positive anode magnetron principles. Operation at
50 MW at 150ns and 100MW at 70 ns was achieved. The
reduced power density in the structure is proposed as a
possible reason for achieving the observed pulselength
from a single device. Another cause of pulse shortening
under consideration is failure to properly match the im-
pedance of the modulator to the magnetron impedance.
Chen et al. [145] contend that pulse shortening is re-
lated to electron bombardment of the anode electrodes
with subsequent generation of ions that are accelerated
toward the cathode and modify the plasma at the cathode
surface. This ion process is in accord with experimental
observation of erosion of the platinum cathode surface in
both 50400 kW CWand 2550MW pulsed superpower, S-
band Amplitron models [146]. The latter pulsed tubes op-
erated at approximately 150 kV, 110ms pulsewidth, and
average power r200kW. Axial striations on the cathode
surface are observed directly opposite the gaps between
anode electrodes. Computation of the ion trajectories
showed that the DC fringing electric elds created by
the anode electrode system focus the ions and produce the
striations on the cathode surface [147]. In addition, elec-
trons created near the anode by gas ionization can result
MAGNETRONS 2509
in electron bombardment of sections of the anode surface.
Gas evolution can occur, which enhances vane-to-vane
and single-surface anode multipactor, leading to further
gas evolution.
The Chen paper also highlights the importance of pre-
processing and proper storage of tube parts, and the fol-
lowing of microwave tube industry procedures of vacuum
processing of the tube. (Note: Double-vacuum bakeout was
standard procedure for the abovementioned superpower
Amplitrons).
8. CONCLUSIONS
The magnetron has survived in an era when most electron
tubes have been replaced by solid-state devices in modern
electronic systems. In particular, the cooker magnetron is
the power source for microwave ovens at power levels of
3003000 W and its manufacturing volume, worldwide, is
over 60 million tubes per year. This version of the mag-
netron preserves the classical strapped-vane anode design
of World War II vintage. Because of its low cost and high
efciency (6090%), it is unlikely to be replaced by other
electron devices.
A wide spectrum of related devices is being developed
for specialized applications. These include crossed-eld
ampliers, voltage-tuned magnetrons, beacon magnet-
rons, and relativistic magnetrons. Applications range
from the classical radar through industrial heating to mi-
crowave weapons.
Computer modeling of magnetrons and related tubes
has become an extensive activity in many countries, in-
cluding Russia, Korea, and Japan as well as the United
States. Although considerable advances have been made
in describing or predicting magnetron performance, com-
puter calculations have not yet mastered the chaotic na-
ture of electroneld interactions in the magnetron. The
excess noise feature of magnetrons remains unconquered
and very likely will be a potential radiofrequency inter-
ference threat to the expanding universe of modern mi-
crowave wireless systems.
Large-scale manufacturing of magnetrons has shifted
to countries in the Far East such as China, Thailand, In-
donesia, and Korea. More limited production and R&D
continue in Japan, Russia, the United States, and a few
other countries such as the United Kingdom. Trends in the
modern global economy determine, in large measure, fu-
ture R&D and manufacture of magnetrons.
Despite prediction, in the 1960s, of its obsolescence, the
magnetron remains one of the electron tubes that survive
because of its high efciency, power capability, and low
cost. Future applications remain unpredictable, but many
are being explored. Advances in computer modeling will
eventually produce success. It remains to be seen whether
magnetron noise can be controlled to permit true electro-
magnetic compatibility in the new era of microwave wire-
less communications systems.
Acknowledgments
One of the authors, Thomas E. Ruden, wishes to express
his appreciation for the technical assistance and helpful
comments provided by Mr. David Hobbs, Microwave Con-
sultant, retired from Microwave Associates, Inc., Burling-
ton, MA. John M. Osepchuk thanks all at Maytag/Amana
Appliances who have supported and contributed to this
work, particularly Ed Cook and Thomas L. Miller.
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2512 MAGNETRONS
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MAXWELLIAN CIRCUITS
KENNETH K. MEI
City University of Hong Kong
Zhejiang University
Hangzhou, China
1. INTRODUCTION
The term circuit implies the involvement of Kirchhoff s
laws. The name Maxwell is associated with the partial-
differential equations of electromagnetic theory. Most of us
who have been doing research in electromagnetics believe
that Maxwells equations are complete, in that they can
formulate any problem related to electricity and magne-
tism including circuit problems, and that Kirchhoff s the-
ory is a simplied form of Maxwells equations, applicable
at low frequencies when the circuit components and con-
necting wires are much smaller than a wavelength. How-
ever, a careful search of textbooks and journal papers
reveals that many of our colleagues may not agree with
these ideas. In fact, the most embarrassing moments for
those of us who have taught electromagnetic theory may
have been when we realized that the transmission-line
equations, which are derived from Kirchhoff s laws [1,2],
have been an integral part of standard textbooks on elec-
tromagnetic theory. Indeed, the transmission-line theory
is an important part of a course on electromagnetic theory,
which students later apply in their careers as microwave
engineers. However, deriving transmission-line theory
from Kirchhoff s laws in an electromagnetic textbook is
inappropriate, to say the least, because it misleads our
students to believe that Kirchhoff s laws and Maxwells
equations are really the same. The objectives of this article
are (1) to show that some important part is missing from
Kirchhoff s circuits so that they cannot be used to simulate
solutions of Maxwells equations except in certain special
cases, and (2) that the solutions of Maxwells equations of
a structure can be simulated by circuits rendered Max-
wellian by adding dependent sources, such that the solu-
tions of voltages and currents of the circuits are identical
to those of the original problem.
Before we discuss Maxwellian circuits, lets review the
textbook derivation of the transmission-line equation
(TLE) from Kirchhoff s laws, and rederive it from Max-
wells equations in Sections 2.1 and 2.2.
2. TRANSMISSION-LINE EQUATION
2.1. TLE by Kirchhoffs Laws
In the traditional derivation of the TLE, a transmission
line is segmented into small identical pieces of Dz, and
simulated by series inductor and shunt capacitor as shown
in Fig. 1, where L and C are inductance per meter and
capacitance per meter of the line, which can be calculated
from the specific geometry of the line. Using Kirchhoff s
laws, the voltage and current differences between the
nodes i 1 and i are found to be
DV joLDzI DI 1a
DI joCDzV 1b
As Dz !0, and neglecting the second-order term, we get
the TLE:
dV
dz
joLI 2a
dI
dz
joCV 2b
2.2. TLE by Maxwells Equations
Equations (2) can be derived from Maxwells equations of
the vector and scalar potentials:
rV joA E 3a
r
.
A jomeV 3b
On a straight conducting wire along the direction z, and
assuming that
A
.
z LI 4
I
V
L Z
C Z
V + V
I + I
Z
Figure 1. L,C circuit segment used in conventional TLE deriva-
tion.
2514 MAXWELLIAN CIRCUITS
where L is the inductance per meter of the line, which is
exact for innitely long straight wires. Equation (3a) be-
comes identical to Eq. (2a), since the electric eld vanishes
along the line. Using the relation
1

LC
p v
1

me
p 5
where v is the velocity of propagation, and assume L to be
uniform, then, Eq. (3b) becomes the same as Eq. (2b).
2.3. Comparison between Kirchhoff and Maxwell Derivations
While we get identical results from the Kirchhoff and
Maxwell theories, there are some differences in the pro-
cedures. Specifically, in the derivation by Maxwells equa-
tions, we have to assume that
1. The line is straight and innite.
2. The inductance and the capacitance per meter are
uniform.
These assumptions are absent in Kirchhoff s derivation.
This is so because solutions to Maxwells equations are
geometrically specific. Circuits have topology but no ge-
ometry; hence Kirchhoff s laws are blind to geometric vari-
ation. When L and C are not uniform, Eq. (3b) becomes
dI
dz
joCV
dL=dz
L
I 6
The added term in (6) represents the effect of changing
geometry in Maxwells formulation. Since the textbook
derivations of the TLE all use Kirchhoff s laws, it is absent
from their equations for nonuniform lines. For example,
the equations for nonuniform lines in Ref. 1 are
dVl
dl
joLlIl 7a
dIl
dl
joClVl 7b
where l is the position along a curved line. Using Eqs. 7,
the classical textbook [1], for example, went on to obtain
the exact solutions to exponential lines. Many inquisitive
students have tried to verify their MoM (method of mo-
ments) results using those exact solutions and found dis-
appointing results. Of course, they would place the blame
on their numerical results. How could one dispute against
the exact solution? If the classical textbooks had derived
the TLE from Maxwells equations, such mistakes would
not have occurred. Would the added term in Eq. (6) make
the equations for a nonuniform line correct? No. As we
mentioned earlier, solutions of Maxwells equations are
geometry-specific. So, the approximation of Eq. (4), which
is good for a straight and innite wire, may not apply. In
this article, we shall show that wire structures of any
shape may be represented by circuits, and are not limited
to low frequencies. If the solutions of voltages and cur-
rents of a simulating circuit are identical to those of
the solutions of the Maxwells equations of the original
structure, we shall designate it of being Maxwellian. To
understand the theory of Maxwellian circuits, we need to
relate the integral equations of wire structures and dif-
ferential equations.
3. INTEGRAL EQUATIONS OF WIRE STRUCTURES
The integral equation of a wire structure is derived from
Maxwells equations. The simplest integral equation of a
wire structure is that of a straight-wire antenna in free
space, driven by an innitesimally thin gap electric eld in
the middle of the wire as shown in Fig. 2. The antenna is
symmetric: I( z) I(z). The simplied geometry will fa-
cilitate the ensuing discussions without any loss of gen-
erality. The theories can be readily adapted to wire
structures of any shape [3].
The integral equation of the current on the antenna in
Fig. 2 is
LIz B cos kz
jV
0
2Z
0
sink z j j 8
where V
0
is the driving voltage and L is the integral op-
erator
LIz
Z
L
L
G z z
0

I z
0
dz
0
9
G z z
0
j j is the free-space Green function, if the structure
is a straight-wire antenna in open air. For wire antennas
of other shapes, this should be replaced by an integral of
the free-space Greens function [2]. For microstrips of any
shape, the integral equation of the thin-wire structure
type can still be derived, where G z z
0
j j would be re-
placed by a kernel of integrals of a Sommerfeld-type Green
dyadic. The constant B is a parameter adjusted to enforce
the boundary condition of the vanishing current at the end
of the antenna or any other impedance condition at the
end of the wire.
4. THE DIFFERENTIAL OPERATOR D
We have also chosen a delta generator as the source model
[4,5] so that the incident eld is zero everywhere on the
wire except at the gap. Our objective is to nd a differen-
tial operator D
DIl
d
2
dl
2
I Ul
d
dl
I TlI 0 10
where U and T are to be found such that the solution
of (10) is identical to that of (8). In Eq. (10), the zero on the
right-hand side (RHS) is justied because there is no
z = 0
z = L
z
z = L
a
Figure 2. Schematics of a linear dipole
MAXWELLIAN CIRCUITS 2515
incident eld on the wire owing to the delta source. In fact,
for every function of , there are an innite number of
differential operators that can cause (10) to be zero. We
wish to nd one that is applicable to all solutions of (8)
regardless of the terminating condition at L. Also, the
solution of (10) should be the same as that of the integral
equation (8) when the same terminating condition is ap-
plied. The proofs of the existence and uniqueness of such
an operator and its invariance to the terminating condi-
tions are given in the following sections.
Operators are in general not unique, in that the prod-
uct of the operator of (10) with any other operator should
include the same properties of the operator of (10). So, our
uniqueness theorem is for D to be the lowest-order differ-
ential operator. It is easy to eliminate a rst-order oper-
ator as a possible candidate, so the second-order equation
of (10) is the next possible candidate.
The theorems to be presented should rely on two as-
sumptions:
1. The inverse operator of the integral operator L ex-
ists.
2. The current on the structure can be adequately rep-
resented by a complex Fourier series of nite terms.
4.1. Existence Theorem
Let I
i
and I
j
be two solutions of the integral equation 1
subject to different terminating conditions at L; then
there exists a differential operator D, dened in Eq. (8),
such that DI
i
0 andDI
j
0.
We can prove the existence theorem by substituting
these two solutions into (10) to get two equations from
which we can solve for the coefcients U and T. The solu-
tions for U and T should exist and be unique unless the
following determinant vanishes:
dI
i
d
I
i
dI
j
d
I
j

0 11
Vanishing of the determinant (11) means
ln I
i
ln I
j
constant 12
In other words, the ratio I
i
/I
j
must be a constant, which is
not possible if I
i
and I
j
have different terminating condi-
tions. Because a current can be approximated by nite
terms of complex Fourier series, then for (4) to be true
within a nite nonzero interval of D, say, at the neigh-
borhood of a point
0
, it should follow that
I
n
i

0
CI
n
j

0
, for n0; 1; 2; . . . ; 1, where C is a con-
stant. This implies that the Taylor expansions of
I
i
andCI
j
are identical, which leads to I
i
CI
j

over the entire length of the wire, which again contradicts
the assumption of the boundary conditions. Hence, (11)
can be true only at discrete points where U and T may be
singular but not in a nite interval D, and it follows that
the existence of a differential operator valid for at least
two solutions of (8) is proved.
4.2. Uniqueness Theorem
The differential operator D, dened in Eq. (10), is unique
for all solutions of an integral equation shown in Eq. (9).
We can prove the uniqueness theorem by letting I
i
and
I
j
be a pair of solutions of (9) from which we obtain an op-
erator D
ij
, and letting L
1
be the inverse operator of the
integral operator L:
D
ij
I
i
j

D
ij
L
1
B
i
j

cos k
jV
0
2Z
0
sin kjj

0 13
The RHS of (13) must vanish for two different values of B
because the left-hand side (LHS) must vanish for both I
i
and I
j
, which satisfy different terminating conditions. For
(13) to vanish for two different values of B, it is necessary
that the two terms on the RHS of (13) vanish separately
after being operated on by D
ij
L
1
. It follows that
B
i
j

D
ij
L
1
cos k 0 14
Since B
i
j

govern the terminating conditions and B
i
OB
j
,
at least one of them does not vanish. Therefore,
D
ij
L
1
cos k 0 is independent of the parameter B and
D
ij
I
i
j

0 has to be an invariance of the terminating
conditions.
Since D
ij
exists and is unique between I
i
and I
j
, the
same is true for D
ik
between I
i
and I
k
. But D
ij
is also ap-
plicable to I
i
and I
k
because of its invariance to the termi-
nal condition. It follows that D
ij
D
ik
. It is thus proved
that Dis the same for all solutions I, since D
ij
is unique for
I
i
and I
j
and D
ik
is unique for I
i
and I
k
.
4.3. Finding the Operator D from Numerical Results
The integral equation of the type in (1) is most conve-
niently solved numerically [2]. To nd the operator D nu-
merically, we assume the wire structure to be subdivided
into equal segments, and the values of the currents are
found numerically at the middle of each segment. A sec-
ond-order differential operator may be represented by the
linear equation
I
n1
a
n
I
n
b
n
I
n1
0 15
at a point nn1; 2; . . . ; N. Substituting two numerical
solutions for I into (15), we can solve for a
n
and b
n
. The
values of U
n
and T
n
can be obtained readily by comparing
(15) to the nite-difference form of (10), which yields
U
n
2
1 b
n

1 b
n
D
; T
n

21a
n
b
n

D
2
1 b
n

16
5. OTHER NUMERICAL RESULTS
We have used MoM and the terminating conditions,
IL c and I
0
L aIL with various values of c and a to
nd the current along the wire. Values of coefcients U
and T obtained from different pairs of current are all the
same, just as the theorem predicts. The values of current,
T, and U for a wire antenna with two right angle bends are
given in Fig. 3. It is interesting to observe that the value of
U is practically zero in the midsection of the straight wire.
2516 MAXWELLIAN CIRCUITS
The value of T there is the square of the free-space wave-
number, which indicates that the current travels along a
straight-wire antenna with the velocity of light, almost
without attenuation. Most of the radiation, therefore,
takes place near the bends and ends of the antenna, where
both U and T change drastically. Another interesting fea-
ture of the differential equations is that the coefcients U
and T are very sensitive functions of the local geometry of
the wire. From the currents it is difcult to see where the
bends are, but from U and T it is quite obvious where the
bends are located. Conversely, the currents are not very
sensitive to the errors of the differential equations. Since
the functions U and T near the bends are characterized
fairly easily, one can make use of their approximations to
form the differential equation of the current [6]. Figure 4
shows the values of the current on a rectangular helical
antenna as calculated by the MoM and those reconstruct-
ed by the differential equation. They are practically iden-
tical, just as the theorem has predicted.
5.1. Extraction of Maxwellian Circuit Parameters from
Full-Wave Results
One important application of the differential equation for-
mulation is that it is amenable to the extraction of circuit
components from the full-wave results that might be
found, for example, by the MoM. Actually, wire antennas
and microstrips belong to the same class of problems that
can be solved by integral equations of the type in Eq. (8).
Circuit parameter extraction is important for IC intercon-
nects, which is done traditionally from static results [7,8]
on open transmission systems. Although several research-
ers have succeeded in obtaining full-wave solutions of mi-
crostrips of various shapes [9,10], none has made any
attempt to extract circuit parameters from the dynamic
results. Using the differential equation of the current, we
are able to extract circuit parameters for both transmis-
sion and radiating systems at any frequency.
Having shown that the solution of the differential equa-
tion (10) truly reproduces the MoM solution, our next step
is to split Eq. (10) into two coupled rst-order equations
involving current and voltage. The general homogeneous
rst-order linear system of differential equations [11] that
can reproduce Eq. (10) may be written in the form
dV
d
joL I a V 17
dI
d
joC V b I 18
M
a
g
n
i
t
u
d
e
(
m
A
)
l (z)
0.0 0.5 1.5 2.5 1.0 2.0
0
1
2
3
4
0.5z
0.5z 0.5z 0.5z
0.001z
MoM
DES
l (z)
0.0 0.5 1.5 2.5 1.0 2.0
P
h
a
s
e
(
d
e
g
r
e
e
)
100
0
100
0.5z
0.5z 0.5z 0.5z
0.001z
MoM
DES
(a)
u
l (z)
0.0 0.5 1.5 2.5 1.0 2.0
30
20
10
0
20
10
30
0.5z
0.5z 0.5z 0.5z
0.001z
Real
Imaginary
(c)
T
l (z)
0.0 0.5 1.5 2.5 1.0 2.0
200
300
400
100
0
100
300
200
0.5z
0.5z 0.5z 0.5z
0.001z
Real
Imaginary
(d)
(b)
Figure 3. (a) Current |I| on a double-bend wire antenna; (b) phase angle of the current of (a);
(c) coefcient U of a double-bend wire antenna; (d) coefcient T of a double-bend wire antenna.
MAXWELLIAN CIRCUITS 2517
10 11
12
6 5
1
2
3
4
7
8
9
L
1
= L
2
= 0.5z
H
1
= H
2
= 0.25z
L
2
L
1
H
1
H
2
a = 0.001z
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.5
3.0
MoM
DE
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e

(
m
A
)
Figure 4. Currents on a rectangular helical antenna driven at node 5, computed by MoM and by
solution of the wire differential equation.
30
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
20 10 0 0
l (mm)
(a) (c)
(b) (d)
l (mm)
f =900MHz
h=0.635mm
w=0.6mm
t=2jm
c
r
=9.8
h=0.635mm
w=0.6mm
t=2jm
c
r
=9.8
h=0.635mm
w=0.6mm
t=2jm
c
r
=9.8
h=0.635mm
w=0.6mm
t=2jm
c
r
=9.8
f =700MHz
f =500MHz
f =300MHz
f =50MHz
L
u
(
j
H
)
C
u
(
p
F
)
10 20 30
30
200
150
100
50
0
50
100
150
200
20 10 0
l (mm)
10 20 30
30 20 10
125
130
135
140
145
150
10 20 30
0
l (mm)
-30
-0.03
-0.02
-0.01
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
-20 -10 10 20 30
f =100MHz
f =200MHz
f =300MHz
f =400MHz
f =50MHz
f =50MHz
f =300MHz
f =500MHz
f =700MHz
f =900MHz
f =50MHz
f =300MHz
f =500MHz
f =700MHz
f =900MHz
:
(
R
e
a
l

p
a
r
t
)
[
(
R
e
a
l

p
a
r
t
)
Figure 5. Circuit parameters (a) L, (b) a, (c) C, and (d) b of a 901 bent microstrip of
e
r
9.8 for f 50900MHz, applicable to all loads.
2518 MAXWELLIAN CIRCUITS
where the factor jo is inserted for convenience in the en-
suing discussions relating L and C to circuit elements.
Since I is found by MoM and V can be found from I,
we need two independent solutions of I to nd L and a
from (17), and C and b from (18). After the parameters are
found, V may be eliminated from (17) and (18) to get a
second-order differential equation of I, which, by the
uniqueness theorem, should be identical to Eq. (10).
Since D is proved to be invariant to the terminating
conditions, so should be the parameters L, C, a, and b, from
which we can derive D. The L, C, a, and b are circuit com-
ponents familiar to circuit engineers, where a and b are
parameters of the voltage- and current-dependent sources,
respectively. The novelty is that the exact solution of an
antenna problem can now be obtained by solving a circuit
problem. Since such circuits are formulated via solutions
of Maxwells equations instead of the conventional Kirchh-
off s laws, they are termed Maxwellian circuits.
5.2. Line and Load
In the classical theory of uniform transmission lines, an
innite line is indistinguishable from a nite-length line
with a matched load. In this new formulation, we should
note that a load has to be different from a line.
The parameters L, C, a, and b are invariants of the load,
but they are not invariants of the length or shape of the
line. A pure load is dened as a circuit parameter, which
does not produce external elds to inuence the other pa-
rameters of the system. Since a piece of open transmission
line is considered to be a radiating or receiving element, it
cannot be considered as a pure load. The combination of a
load and a transmission line is not a pure load. The at-
tached transmission line must be accounted for in the de-
termination of equivalent-circuit parameters. For the same
reason, an antenna is not a pure load unless it can be
shown that its radiation has no effect on the transmission
system. Because of the variation of the equivalent-circuit
parameters near the line termination, an exact matching
load may not be easy to nd. The conventional matching
load, the characteristic impedance, may be a good approx-
imation, but there is no guarantee that it is the optimum.
5.3. Numerical Results on Circuit Parameters
The circuit parameters are not calculated from the second-
order differential equations. They are calculated directly
from the solutions I as mentioned in the previous sec-
tion. To show the versatility of the theory, we present the
circuit parameters of microstrips, where they are most
needed.
Figure 5 shows L, C, a, and b of a microstrip with a 901
bend. An interesting feature of these gures is that L and
C are now almost independent of frequency. There are
small drifting changes, which may be partially attributed
to the numerical inaccuracies in the computation. An av-
erage value within an operating band may be adequate for
most applications. The parameter a is essentially frequen-
cy-independent. Only b is dependent on frequency, and
our calculations show that its variation is in proportion to
o
2
. Even the o dependence of b can be avoided if we choose
to use a mitered 901 bend. b is independent of o if the bend
is 451. A 901 bend can be achieved by two 451 bends. b be-
comes o dependent when the two varying parts of b over-
lap, which happens when the inner mitered distance is
less than the width of the strip. Using these parameters to
solve for the current on the bend microstrip, one should
obtain results identical to those from MoM. It is noted
0 1 2 3 4 5
Frequency (GHz)
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
|
S
1
1
|

(
d
B
)
Eqn result (parameter at 3GHz)
MoM result
Reference [16]
Figure 7. S
11
of microstrip discontinuities of Fig. 6, computed by
Maxwellian circuits with parameter s extracted at 3 GHz, and
comparison with those by MoM.
t
d
w
2
w
1
w
3
lw
y
z
x
w
1
w
3
lw
y
y
z
z
x
o
Port1 Port2
(a)
(b)
Figure 6. Schematics of a microstrip of double-bend discontinuity.
MAXWELLIAN CIRCUITS 2519
that, in the computation of the parameters, all are con-
sidered to be complex, but the results show that all are
real. Using these real parameters, one can readily calcu-
late the current of any load. Figure 6 shows the geometry
a double-step discontinuity of a microstrip. Figure 7 shows
the comparisons of the results calculated by the equiva-
lent circuits and those by MoM of absolute values of S
11
of
the structure. The Maxwellian circuit parameter of Fig. 8
is calculated at 3 GHz. The total time for 20 sample points
of calculation using MoM is 1025 s, while the same
calculation using the Maxwellian circuits including one
solution of MoM at 3 GHz is 65.87 s.
6. MAXWELLIAN CIRCUITS OF LINEAR ANTENNAS
With the theory of Maxwellian circuits, we can now rep-
resent a long dipole by circuits. The only approximation is
the discretization in the numerical process. The circuit
parameters of a resonant dipole are shown in Fig. 8. There
0
12
2
0.5
18 0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2
1.5
1
0.5 0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
x10
16
x10
14
0
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0.1
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
10
8
6
4
2
0
2
20 40 60
N N
80 100 120
0 20 40 60
N
80 100 120
0 20 40 60
N
80 100 120
0 20 40 60
N
80 100 120 0 20 40 60
N
80 100 120
0
0
0.5
1
1.5
20 40 60
N
80 100 120
0 20 40 60
N
80 100 120
0
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
20 40 60 80 100 120
R
e
(
L
)
(
n
H
)
I
m
(
L
)
(
n
H
)
R
e
(
A
)
I
m
(
A
)
I
m
(
B
)
R
e
(
B
)
R
e
(
C
)
(
p
F
)
I
m
(
C
)
(
p
F
)
Figure 8. Maxwellian circuit parameters of a
resonant dipole.
2520 MAXWELLIAN CIRCUITS
are some obvious differences between the parameters of a
dipole and those of a transmission line. The parameters a
and b of a transmission line are essentially real and ap-
pear only near the discontinuity or truncation, but those
parameters of the dipole are complex and are spread all
over the antenna. The role of those parameters in the
radiation process is not exactly known, but one may
speculate that they are inuential. The input impedanc-
es of the equivalent circuits of a dipole, the parameters of
which are calculated at 300MHz, are shown in Fig. 9.
Comparing the results of exact MoM calculations, we nd
the equivalent circuit to be fairly broadband. One may
readily broaden the bandwidth by replacing the simple
L,C circuits by impedance and an admittance ladder net-
work and match the results at a few frequency points [12].
7. INTERPRETATION OF THE DEPENDENT SOURCES
Without a and b, (17) and (18) are the textbook equations
of nonuniform transmission lines [1], which are derived
from Kirchhoff s laws. By including the dependent sourc-
es, we have essentially modied Kirchhoff s laws, but the
physical conditions we have used to replace Kirchhoff s
laws are not explicit here. However, the dependent sources
a and b are not arbitrary. They are found by tting the
equations to the solutions of Maxwells equations. The sig-
nificance lies in the fact that one pair of a and b is suf-
cient for all solutions of Maxwells equations of the specific
system, which implies that the pair (a, b) is a part of Max-
wells equations. In contrast to Kirchhoff s laws of current
conservation, Maxwells equations stipulate the conserva-
tion of charge, so a and b must be there to maintain this
physical condition. Another interpretation of the role of
the dependent sources is that an open transmission line is
not a purely passive system. When a section of line radi-
ates, it behaves like a sink to the system because it takes
energy away. Conversely, when a segment of line receives
energy from outside, it behaves like a source. So, a section
of line can be passive or active depending on the direction
of current owa role that cannot be fullled by an active
or passive component. But a dependent source ts natu-
rally. There is very strong evidence to support the claim
that the missing links between a theory based on Max-
wells equations and one based on the laws of circuits are
the dependent sources. Without them the model is incom-
plete and the discrepancies arise as erratic frequency and
load dependencies of the circuit parameters. With the de-
pendent sources, the solutions of the equivalent-circuit
problem become the same as those of Maxwells equations
for all loads over a wide band of frequencies.
8. FURTHER RESEARCH
The concept of Maxwellian circuit is new. There are only a
few published articles on this subject, scattered in journal
and conference papers [6,13,14]. The basic theory, pre-
sented in this article, is the same as those in Refs. 6 and
13. Reference 14 contains an extension of the theory of
Maxwellian circuits to multiwire systems. An extension of
the theory from frequency domain to time domain is con-
tained in Ref. 15. The theory is still in its infancy. The di-
rection of further research must depend on the acceptance
of the new concept by the microwave and circuit commu-
nity in either computation or computer-aided design. It is
hoped that the theory will soon be extended beyond the
thin-wire structures, such as patches and multiplayer sys-
tems. Since the Maxwellian circuits are obtained from so-
lution of Maxwells equations, they are only as good as the
software that provides the solutions. Most commercial
Maxwells equation solvers provide accurate current den-
sities but not voltages. Thus, the applicability of Maxwell-
ian circuits also depends on the availability of new
software, which provides both accurate voltages and cur-
rents.
9. CONCLUSION
We have shown that, to every integral equation of the thin
wire structure type, there exists a unique second-order
differential operator, the solutions of which are identical to
those of the integral equation if identical boundary condi-
tions are applied in the solution to the integral and dif-
ferential equations. Existence and uniqueness theorems
are proved. When the second-order differential equations
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
500
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
R
e
(
Z
i
n
)
MoM
Model#1
f(GHz)
1000
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
0
6000
I
m
(
Z
i
n
)
MoM
Model#1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
f(GHz)
Figure 9. Input impedances of a dipole antenna of the Maxwellian circuits, the parameters of
which are extracted at 300MHz.
MAXWELLIAN CIRCUITS 2521
are rewritten as two rst-order differential equations in-
volving voltage and current, equivalent circuits evolve
naturally. We have shown that the telegraphers equa-
tions for nonuniform lines, given by most textbooks of
electromagnetic eld theory, are incomplete. We have ap-
pended dependent sources to the equations to make them
complete, and the ensuing results are most remarkable. It
renders the passive components almost independent of
frequency, thus preserving the simple relation between
voltage and current of circuit theory without invoking the
complicated process of convolution. The dependent sourc-
es appear to be the missing link between circuit theory
and electromagnetic theory. Only by including them can
the currents in a circuit obtained from the solution of
equations based on circuit laws be the same as currents
obtained from the solution of Maxwells equations. The
theorems and ensuing equivalent circuits have not only
improved our physical insights but also accelerated com-
putations because of the broadband nature of the circuit
parameters.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. S. Ramo, J. R. Whinnery, and T. Van Duzer, Fields and Waves
of Communication Electronics, 3rd ed., Wiley, 1994.
2. D. Chang, Field and Wave Electromagnetics, 2nd ed., Addi-
son-Wesley, 1990.
3. K. K. Mei, On the integral equations of thin wire antennas,
IEEE Trans. Anten. Propag. AP-13(3):374378 (May 1965).
4. R. E. Collin, Antennas and Radiowave Propagation, McGraw-
Hill, International Edition, 1985.
5. R. W. P. King, Theory of Linear Antennas, Harvard Univ.
Press, Cambridge, MA, 1956.
6. K. K. Mei, Theory of Maxwellian Circuits, Radio Science Bul-
letin 305, Sept. 2003, pp. 613.
7. P. Silvester and P. Benedek, Equivalent discontinuities ca-
pacitance for right-angle bends, T-junctions, and crossings,
IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech. MTT-21: 341346 (May
1973).
8. W. Sun, W. W. M. Dai, and W. Hong, Fast parameter extrac-
tion of general interconnects using geometry independent
measured equation of invariance, IEEE Trans. Microwave
Theory Tech. MTT-45(5):827836 (May 1997).
9. X. Zhang and K. K. Mei, Time-domain nite difference ap-
proach to the calculation of the frequency-dependent charac-
teristics of microstrip discontinuities, IEEE Trans. Microwave
Theory Tech. MTT-36(12):17751787 (Dec. 1988).
10. W. Harokopus and P. B. Katehi, Characterization of micro-
strip discontinuities on multilayer dielectric substrates in-
cluding radiation losses, IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech.
MTT-37(12):20582066 (Dec. 1989).
11. I. G. Petrovski, Ordinary Differential Equations, English edi-
tion transl. by Richard A. Silverman, Dover Publications,
1973.
12. K. K. Mei, Y. Liu, and L. Li, Maxwellian circuits of linear an-
tennas, IEEE Trans. Anten. Propag. (in press).
13. K. K. Mei, Existence and uniqueness theorems of equivalent
differential operators of thin wire integral equations, Proc.
APMC2001, Taipei, Taiwan, 2001, Vol. 2(of 3), pp. 453455
(invited paper).
14. K. K. Mei, Theory of Maxwellian circuits and its applications
to multi wire systems, Proc. Interim Int. Symp. Antennas and
Propagation, Yokosuka, Japan, 2002, pp. 355361 (invited
paper).
15. X. Zhong, Mawellian Circuits in Time Domain, Ph.D. disser-
tation, Dept. of Electronic Engineering, City Univ. Hong
Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR, China.
16. Q. Xu, K. J. Webb, and R. Mittra, Study of model solution
procedures for microstrip step discontinuities, IEEE Trans.
Microwave Theory Tech. MTT-37:381386 (Feb. 1989).
MEASUREMENT OF NEAR FIELDS USING A
MODULATED SCATTERER
FRED GARDIOL
Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology
Lausanne, Switzerland
1. INTRODUCTION
In the close vicinity of electrical equipment, electronic de-
vices, and antennas, the electric and the magnetic elds
often exhibit a complex behavior, in particular when guid-
ed, radiated, surface, and leaky waves are simultaneous
present. The elds of the different waves combine and may
form complicated patterns.
The usual measurement techniques determine signal
amplitudes and phases at the ports of a device and in the
far eld of an antenna. They do not show what happens
inside the device itself, or just next to an antenna, how
signals travel along transmission lines and across junc-
tions, mysteriously vanishing at some ports, and what
parts of an antenna actually contribute to radiation.
For practical purposes, it would be most valuable to
know how the elds are distributed in the close vicinity of
a device, for instance, to determine the presence of leaks in
shielded enclosures, or of hotspots and of potential trouble
areas in printed and monolithic circuits. For some large
antennas and arrays, the far-eld region starts at very
large distances, so that measurements have to be made
within the near-eld region. The far-eld behaviour is
then derived with the help of mathematical transforms.
One can use a small probe antenna and a receiver to
carry out near-eld measurements, and this is commonly
done in compact antenna test ranges. Unfortunately, the
introduction of a probe, together with the transmission
line (coaxial line or waveguide) required to connect it to
the receiver, perturbs to some extent the measurement,
because the presence of metal locally short-circuits the
tangential electric eld. In addition, the transmission
properties of exible transmission lines vary somewhat
with the shape of the lineas the antenna is moved
aroundand this effect becomes significant at high fre-
quencies. This means that the direct measurements of the
elds might yield unreliable data. This can be avoided to
some extent by placing the receiving probe far enough
2522 MEASUREMENT OF NEAR FIELDS USING A MODULATED SCATTERER
from the element under test, for instance, in the Rayleigh
and Fresnel regions of an antenna.
The issue to be resolved is then how can one accurately
determine the eld distribution that would exist if the
probe and its connecting line were not there. Within a
complex eld environment the answer is by no means ob-
vious, because the eld changes with the position of the
probe. Only for some simple situations can one determine
correction factors to account for its presence.
An indirect measurement approach introduces a small
but well-dened perturbing element. Measurements are
made with and without this element, and the difference
between the two sets of measured values yields the
desired information. However, the eld distribution
must not be significantly modied by the introduction
of the element, so that it must remain very smallbut at
the same time it must also be large enough to produce
a detectable response. The two requirements are clearly
contradictory! In addition, the need to carry out two sets
of measurements tends to be impractical, in particular
when one wishes to obtain the distribution of a eld
component at many locations over a specied region of
space.
The perturbing element should be provided with addi-
tional information that would attach some kind of tag to
it, in order to detect its presence more clearly. This is done
by applying a modulation by mechanical or electrical
means. In this manner, one can discriminate the signal
coming from the perturbing element from background re-
ections and noise. This is the basis of the modulated
scatterer technique (MST).
The technique was rst developed in 1955 by Cullen
and Parr [1], with a vibrating and rotating dipole, and by
Richmond [2], who electrically modulated a scatterer. At
that time measurements had to be carried out manually;
they were therefore impractical and time-consuming, and
the new technique did not meet with much success.
Since the advent of computers, the measurements can
now be completely automateddirected and controlled
with the help of dedicated software and directly yielding
eld plots and associated quantities. The modulated scat-
tering technique now provides a exible, fast, and efcient
way to analyze systems, becoming a useful tool for re-
searchers and designers. Its low invasiveness makes it
particularly attractive for particular situations where the
element under test must not be disturbed.
The modulated scatterer technique can be used to mea-
sure all kinds of antennas and high-frequency printed and
monolithic circuits, to test for electromagnetic compatibil-
ity, to characterize material properties, and to control in-
dustrial processes. In biomedical applications, it plays an
important role in microwave tomography. Unfortunately,
the information and the results obtained with this tech-
nique are widely spread out within the technical publica-
tions of the specialized elds involved, and are therefore
not easy to locate for outsiders. To overcome this hurdle,
Bolomey and Gardiol collected the most significant infor-
mations related to the modulated scatterer technique and
regrouped them within a book, making them more readily
available to the general public [3].
2. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
When a scatterer is introduced into an electromagnetic
eld, currents are induced on its metallic parts, which
then transmit a scattered signal; thus the scatterer be-
haves like a radar target. One can use either a short di-
polewhich couples to the electric eld parallel to itor a
small loop, which interacts with the magnetic eld per-
pendicular to the plane of the loop. The scattered eld de-
pends on the amplitude of the eld at the scatterer
location. By moving the scatterer, one can determine the
eld distribution along a line, over a surface, or within a
volume.
When a suitable nonlinear element is placed within the
scatterer and a modulating signal applied to it, the scat-
tered eld is modulated, and it is then more easy to detect
with a receiver tuned at the modulating frequency (coher-
ent detection). In principle, the modulation could be pro-
vided by illuminating a photodiode with a laser beam, but
this approach proved rather difcult to implement in prac-
tice for a mobile scatterer. It is more practical to transmit
the modulating signal through an optical ber illuminat-
ing a photodiode (Fig. 1), or still to apply a low-frequency
modulation to a mixer diode with high-resistivity wires
in both cases the source of the modulating signal is phys-
ically connected to the scatterer, but the dielectric and the
highly resistive connections do not significantly affect the
electromagnetic eld.
The device under test, which may be an antenna or a
circuit, creates in its vicinity an electromagnetic eld. The
Power
amplifier
Optical fiber
Homodyne
receiver
Signal
analysis
Stable
signal
source
Phase-
locked
amplifier
Low
frequency
generator
Light
source
Display
Device under
test
Dipole
Photodiode
Unmodulated
signal
Modulated
scattered
signal
Coupler Coupler
In
phase
In
quadrature
Figure 1. Basic test setup making use of the
reection from a loaded dipole modulated
through an optical ber (monostatic congu-
ration).
MEASUREMENT OF NEAR FIELDS USING A MODULATED SCATTERER 2523
scatterer (shown in Fig. 1 as a short dipole loaded by a
photodiode) picks up a signal, modulates a portion of it,
and reects it back toward the device under test. The ho-
modyne receiver compares the reected signal with the
signal fed by the source, and provides low-frequency phase
and quadrature signals to the phase-locked amplier. In
this way it is possible to retrieve a quantity related to the
electric eld component parallel to the dipole. When the
dipole is replaced by a small loop, the quantity retrieved is
related to the magnetic eld perpendicular to the plane of
the loop.
In the setup of Fig. 1, called monostatic, analogously
with radar, the same device is used to transmit and to re-
ceive, yielding the reection from the scatterer. The for-
ward and the return signals travel over the same path, so
that the transmission factor from the device to the scat-
terer appears twice in the reection relationshipa com-
plete mathematical derivation, based on reciprocity and
making use of the scattering matrix formulation, is pro-
vided in Ref. 3. As a result, the quantity measured in this
conguration is proportional to the square of the eld
component. The amplitude is then determined by taking
the square root of the module, but the phase is known only
with an uncertainty of 71801. This is not too bothersome
for eld diagnostics, where knowledge of the amplitude of
a single eld component is generally sufcient to provide
the desired information. But the knowledge of the ampli-
tude and phase of two eld components is required to de-
termine the antenna pattern with near-to-far-eld
transformations.
To determine the eld pattern over a region of space
(line, surface, or volume), the probe is moved, and mea-
surements repeated at a suitable number of locations
selected to provide an adequate coverage. A mechanism
holding the probe is provided to move it along one, two or
three dimensions (not shown in Fig. 1). The probe move-
ment and all the measurements are directed and con-
trolled by a computer, which also treats the information
obtained, providing amplitude and phase plots for the
electric or magnetic eld component considered. When
knowledge of more than one eld component is desired, it
is possible to combine several orthogonal scatterers
but particular care is then required to avoid spurious
interactions.
In an alternate approach, transmission and reception
functions are treated separately, introducing an additional
collector antenna (Fig. 2). By analogy with radar, this
qconguration is called bistatic. The collector must be
placed sufciently far from the device under test to avoid
perturbing the very near eld.
In the bistatic conguration, the signal travels only
once between the device under test and the scatterer, and
therefore the measured values are linearly proportional to
the eld component (assuming that the transmission from
scatterer to collector remains constant during the mea-
surements). This means that the phase is determined
without ambiguity, and this conguration is therefore pre-
ferred when near-to-far-eld transformations are involved
later on. This conguration is, however, somewhat more
complicated to assemble than the monostatic setup.
Moving the probe from one point to another takes some
time, as one must ensure that the probe has reached a
stable position when the measurement is taken (residual
vibrations would introduce noise, which would be partic-
ularly bothersome if it fell within the same frequency
range as the modulation). This means that, typically, only
a few points can be covered in one second; when measure-
ments are to be made over a large surface, they can be-
come quite time-consuming. This would remain acceptable
for simple diagnostic applications, but it would make com-
plete antenna measurements quite impractical.
To reduce the measurement time when many points are
involved, the mechanical movement of the scatterer is re-
placed by electronic switching between many scatterers
grouped in an array. Very fast measurements can then be
made, but since an array tends to become considerably
larger than a single scatterer, its presence will more sig-
nificantly disturb the eld distribution.
Depending on the application considered, arrays of
scatterers can lie along a line (one-dimensional scan) or
on a surface (two-dimensional scan). They are most often
used in a bistatic conguration, as sketched in Fig. 3. In
this particular conguration, the modulated scatterers
form a linear array, providing a vertical scan, while the
antenna under test is rotated for azimuthal scanning [4].
In other measurement setups, the antenna remains
steady while two-dimensional scanning is carried out by
a surface array of scatterers.
Material measurements are another important eld of
application of the modulated scatterer technique that also
used bistatic array congurations [5]. For instance, one
can continuously keep track of manufacturing processes.
Three possible schemes are schematically represented in
Fig. 4: reection (for highly lossy and reecting materials),
Dipole
Photodiode
Unmodulated
signal
Modulated
scattered
signal
Power
amplifier
Optical fiber
Homodyne
receiver
Signal
analysis
Stable
signal
source
Phase-
locked
amplifier
Low-
frequency
generator
Light
source
Collector
antenna
Display
Device under
test
Coupler
In
phase
In
quadrature
Figure 2. Basic test setup making use of
the scattering from a loaded dipole modulat-
ed through an optical ber (bistatic con-
guration).
2524 MEASUREMENT OF NEAR FIELDS USING A MODULATED SCATTERER
transmission, and double transmission (for transparent
materials). Similar arrangements are also used to mea-
sure radar cross sections [6] and to detect buried objects.
3. EQUIPMENT
The monostatic mobile probe conguration was imple-
mented at the National Physical Laboratory in Great Brit-
ain, where a broadband instrument was designed for
operation between 2 and 18 GHz [7]. It was used to ana-
lyze the operation of rectangular horn antennas, by mea-
suring the eld patterns in the plane of the aperture, and
to determine diffraction effects produced in the near-eld
region by combinations of slits. The measurement results
were used to verify existing theories and to validate com-
puter simulations. Considerable work was carried out to
characterize close-range interactions between probes and
conductor edges.
A similar setup was developed at the Swiss Federal In-
stitute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland [8], to
measure more particularly microstrip patch antennas
and circuits. The project started quite modestly for demon-
stration purposes, making use of material available in the
microwave laboratoryexcept for the homodyne receiver
and the scatterers, which were specifically realized for
this equipment. High-resistivity wires are used to feed
the modulating signal to the scatterer, taking particular
Figure 3. Near-eld bistatic test setup mak-
ing use of a vertical linear array of modulated
scatterers while the antenna under test is
rotated.
(a)
Transmitting
antenna
Transmitting
antenna
Transmitting
antenna
Material
under test
Array of
scatterers
Array of
scatterers
Array of
scatterers
Collector
antenna
Collector
antenna
Collector
antenna
Material
under test
Material
under test
(b) (c)
Figure 4. Bistatic congurations for the measurement of materials: (a) reection; (b) transmis-
sion; (c) double transmission.
Figure 5. Monostatic measurement setup used for the measure-
ment of printed circuits and antennas at the Swiss Federal Insti-
tute of Technology (photo by F. Gardiol).
MEASUREMENT OF NEAR FIELDS USING A MODULATED SCATTERER 2525
precautions to avoid high-frequency leakage along the
wires (by adding resistors and ferrite beads). A standard
xy plotter was used at rst to provide a two-dimensional
scan; it was later on replaced by a more sophisticated 3D
coordinating table (Fig. 5). The instrument proved quite
valuable to design a variety of complex antennas, for
which simulation softwares did not always provide satis-
factory information.
Along similar lines, a miniaturized probe was devel-
oped at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, in order
to test more specifically microwave monolithic circuits and
lters [9]. Both a dipole antenna and a monopole antenna
were integrated within the probe, so that vertical and
horizontal electrical eld components could be measured
at the same time.
The development of compact near-eld ranges using
modulated scatterer arrays to measure large antennas
was carried out extensively at Supelec (E

cole Superieure
dE

lectricite) near Paris, in France, under the direction of

Professor Jean-Charles Bolomey. The various array geom-
etries that can be used in a wide range of situations were
carefully analyzed and their respective merits compared:
in which cases should one use two-dimensional electronic
scanning, in which ones should one combine a one-dimen-
sional electronic scan with a mechanical scan (rotation or
translation). Several measurement ranges were built to
test large antennas used for military radar and space ap-
plications, for instance, at the ESTEC research center of
the European Space Agency in Noordwijk, the Nether-
lands [10]. This research was reported in many technical
publications [3].
The complete measurement of an antenna in an mod-
ulated scatterer facility takes on the order of 30 s, as com-
pared to one hour or more to achieve the same accuracy in
a standard test facility [11]. Since measurements are
made in such a short time, one can determine the radia-
tion of a cellular phone together with its usersitting on
the rotating platform. The company SATIMO was actually
created to further develop, produce, and sell microwave
equipments based on Supelecs inventions, in particular
those making use of the modulated scatterer technique.
Complete near-eld measurement facilities are now com-
mercially available (Fig. 6).
Arrays of modulated scatterers also found applications
in the measurement of a wide variety of materials, using
the geometries depicted in Fig. 4. Among many others,
they control the manufacture of textiles, wooden boards
[12], paper, composite materials, and rock ber [3]. Mod-
ulated scatterer arrays are also used to analyze the eld
distribution within TEM cells used for electromagnetic
compatibility (EMC) testing [13], and to detect the pres-
ence of buried objects [14].
Last but by no means least, one must mention the im-
portant role of modulated scatterer arrays in the eld of
microwave tomography [15]. A microwave camera was
developed at Supelec (Fig. 7). Operating at 2.45 GHz, its
scatterer array is made of 32 32 1024 short dipoles
loaded by pin diodes, which can be individually modulated
through a line/row-addressing scheme. The biological tar-
get is immersed in a water tank, to optimize the penetra-
tion of the beam and to prevent parasitic contributions of
waves propagating around the target. Initially developed
in the very early 1980s, the camera was constantly up-
dated with the advent of new technology. It provides re-
constructed patterns at the rate of 15 images per second,
including both acquisition and data processing.
Figure 6. Stargate-64 spherical near-eld measurement facility
made of a circular array of modulated scatterers. (Courtesy of
Satimo Co.)
Microwave
generator
2.45 GHz
Microwave
homodyne
receiver
Low frequency
coherent detector
A

Transmitting antenna
(horn with lens)
Water
tank
Collector
antenna
Compensation loop
Element
under test
Low frequency
Multiplexer
Array of
modulated
scatterers
I Q
Figure 7. Schematic of the 2.45-GHz microwave
camera developed at Supelec in France.
2526 MEASUREMENT OF NEAR FIELDS USING A MODULATED SCATTERER
4. SOME EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
This section presents some results (For a few among
many, see Ref. 3) obtained using the modulated scatterer
technique.
At the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the test
conguration shown in Fig. 5 was used to measure the
electric and the magnetic elds over microstrip antennas
and circuits. Figure 8 shows the amplitude of the tangen-
tial electric eld slightly above a rectangular patch in
which a rectangular slot was cut out. As can be expected,
the eld is concentrated mostly close to the edges of the
patch and of the slot, whereas it vanishes on the metal
surface. Distributions for three modes of resonance are
shown. At the lowest frequency, the antenna edges are
active, while radiation at the edges of the slot becomes
more important at the higher frequencies.
A planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) was developed for
dual-frequency operation in GSM cellular phones, at
900 MHz and 1.8GHz (Fig. 9). The upper conductor strip
is divided into two sections, which are connected by an LC
lter. The lower frequency lies within the passband of the
lter, and the currents then ow over the entire structure.
On the other hand, the upper frequency is located in a
stopband of the lter, so that only a part of the antenna is
active in this case. Measured near elds show the distri-
bution of the magnetic eld component over the strip,
illustrating the principle of operation.
Figure 8. Amplitude of the longitudinal electric eld over a rectangular patch antenna with a
rectangular slot at three frequencies of resonance, showing how the eld component is concen-
trated next to the edges of the patch and of the slot. (Courtesy of J.-F. Zu rcher.)
Coaxial input
LC filter
Inverted-F radiator
Ground plane
0 5 10 15 20 25
dB
20 20 40 0 40 mm
10
0
10
0
10
0
10
900 MHz
1.8 GHz
Figure 9. Amplitude of the normal magnetic eld over a
dual-frequency PIFA at the two frequencies of operation.
(Courtesy of J.-F. Zu rcher.) (This gure is available in full
color at http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/erfme.)
MEASUREMENT OF NEAR FIELDS USING A MODULATED SCATTERER 2527
The distribution of the normal electric eld over a mi-
crostrip hybrid ring (ratrace) is shown in Fig. 10 for two
excitations. The distance between successive ports in the
lower part of the device is a quarter-wavelength, and 3
times that in the upper part. As a result, the signal fed at
the input is evenly distributed among two output ports,
while the fourth port lies in a trough of the standing wave,
so that no signal comes out of it.
A similar behaviour appears in a directional coupler
made of two coupled parallel transmission lines, as shown
in Fig. 11 [9]. The signal propagates mostly on one trans-
mission line (the mainline), while a small part of it is coupled
to the second one. The coupled port is here the one located
across from the input, while the fourth port is isolated.
A measurement setup, based on the reecting congu-
ration shown in Fig. 4a, was developed specifically to de-
tect the presence of buried objects. Figure 12 shows
several metal bars inside reinforced concrete, as detected
by an array of 32 modulated scatterers with illuminating
frequencies ranging from 7 to 13 GHz. Measurements
were carried out at various frequencies within that range
and than compared by a dedicated data processing soft-
ware, which extracted the salient features [16]. The ap-
paratus used was optimized for a spatial resolution
smaller than 1 cm and an investigation depth of 10 cm.
Figure 13 shows the microwave radiography of a
human hand as it appears in real time on the screen of
the microwave camera specifically developed for medical
applications at the ISM frequency of 2.45 GHz (Fig. 7). The
microwave beam propagates in a water tank, in which the
object is immersed. Since water is highly lossy, it reduces
spurious effects of waves propagating around the target
and reecting on the tank walls. The use of a water me-
dium reduces surface reections on many biological tis-
sues, because these have a high water content. Finally, the
use of a high-dielectric medium yields a much better spa-
tial resolutionin this case, it is increased by a factor of
10 with respect to air.
5. EVALUATION
For many electrical engineering applications, it is useful,
necessary, or at least interesting to know how electric and
magnetic elds are distributed over some regions of space.
One may indeed wish to dispose of some detailed informa-
tion that the ubiquitous network analyzer simply cannot
provide.
While one may directly measure near-eld components
with small antennas, the signals picked up must then be
transmitted to a receiver, and the presence of connecting
lines tends to disturb the eld. In the modulated scatterer
technique, one removes the high-frequency transmission
lines entirely, replacing wired by wireless transmis-
sion; the probe antenna picks up the signal at the point of
interest and reects it, or radiates it toward some collector
antenna located far enough not to perturb the measured
eld. Low-frequency modulation and coherent detection
can detect very weak signals.
32
32 32 0
[mm] [mm]
[dB]
32 32 0
32
0
[
m
m
]
32
32
0
[
m
m
]
30
27
24
21
18
15
12
9
6
3
0
Figure 10. Amplitude of the normal electric eld over a
hybrid ring for two excitations. The port at the left on the
left-hand gure is excited, while the port at the bottom
right is excited on the right-hand gure. (Courtesy of
J.-F. Zu rcher.) (This gure is available in full color at
http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/erfme.)
0 1 2 3 4
mm
0
1
2
m
m
dB
0 10 20 30
Coupled port Isolated port
Input Output
Figure 11. Amplitude of the normal electric eld over an MMIC
contradirectional coupler. (Courtesy of T. K. Budka.) (This gure
is available in full color at http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.
com/erfme.)
Figure 12. Metal bars buried in concrete, as detected by an array
of 32 modulated scatterers operating over the 713GHz frequency
range. (Courtesy of Supelec/CNRS.) (This gure is available in
full color at http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/erfme.)
2528 MEASUREMENT OF NEAR FIELDS USING A MODULATED SCATTERER
The modulated scatterer technique provides a broad
spectrum of applications, offering a valuable way to carry
out electromagnetic eld measurements, some of them in
difcult situations for which low perturbation, rapidity, or
both, are required. In addition to being less perturbing for
the elds, it is easier to implement than direct measure-
ments, leading to many new possibilities.
The technique was already proposed in 1955, but it be-
came interesting only with the advent of computer-con-
trolled measurements and image processingwhich yield
detailed eld plots in almost real time. The effects pro-
duced by changes in frequency, geometry, and other pa-
rameters can then be determined very rapidly, and this
can be extremely valuable for the practical design of an-
tennas and devices.
The rst applications were in the eld of antennas,
proving useful for validation of theoretical assumptions
and also for obtaining far-eld antenna patterns. Diag-
nostics of printed circuits followed, together with many
other applications in the EMC and ISM eldsbut the
large potential of the technique is not yet fully exploited.
Simple setups can be implemented using standard lab-
oratory equipment, without need for large material in-
vestments. While a simple test setup will not provide a
high accuracy, it may still prove an extremely valuable
tool for design, demonstrations, and educational purposes.
Higher-grade applications use scatterer arrays, with
electronic switching speeding up the measurement rate,
sometimes by several orders of magnitude. A complete
antenna pattern can be obtained within a matter of min-
utes. Near-eld antenna ranges based on the modulated
scatterer technique are now commercially available.
A number of applications were also found in the mea-
surement of materials, in particular to control industrial
manufacturing processes where the controlling system
must make rapid decisions. The eld plots obtained with
the modulated scatterers are basically similar to those
provided by computer simulation, and thus permit easy
comparison and mutual validation. The two approaches
are complementary because each technique provides some
information that is useful in checking and improving the
validity and accuracy of the other.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. A. Cullen and D. Parr, A new perturbation method for mea-
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5. R. King, On-line industrial applications of microwave mois-
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18GHz near electric eld measurement system for planar
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MEDICAL IMAGING WITH MICROWAVE:
THERMOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY
YUAN XU
LIHONG V. WANG
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
1. GENERAL REVIEW
Microwaves have two properties that are attractive for
medical imaging applications: (1) they can penetrate deep-
ly into biological tissues than can light waves and (2) the
dielectric properties of biological tissues in the microwave
frequency range are related to the tissues physiological
and pathological states. Imaging modalities that employ
microwaves combine these two features to extract infor-
mation about the physiological and pathological status of
tissues that are deep in the body.
There are primarily two biomedical imaging modalities
that utilize microwaves: thermoacoustic tomography [1]
and pure microwave tomography [2]. Thermoacoustic
tomography images the absorption of microwave energy
in tissues, while pure microwave imaging images both the
relative dielectric permittivity and the conductivity of tis-
sues. In thermoacoustic tomography, a short-pulsed mi-
crowave is used to irradiate the tissues. When the
electromagnetic radiation is absorbed in the biological tis-
sues, the heating and subsequent expansion causes the
emission of acoustic signals, which is called the thermo-
acoustic effect. In thermoacoustic tomography, the thermo-
acoustic signals are collected to map the distribution of
radiative absorption within the tissues. In microwave
tomography, tissues are irradiated by microwave pulses,
and the scattered microwave signals from the tissues are
collected to map the distribution of the dielectric proper-
ties of the tissues. Several two-dimensional (2D) and
three-dimensional (3D) microwave tomography systems
have been implemented experimentally with different
numbers of antennas and different congurations, opera-
tion frequencies, and total acquisition times.
Thermoacoustic tomography combines the good imag-
ing resolution of ultrasound with the good imaging con-
trast of microwave. Microwave tomography has the
advantage of good imaging contrast but suffers from
poor spatial resolution. On the other hand, purely ultra-
sonic imaging has good spatial resolution but poor con-
trast. Thermoacoustic tomography can bridge the gap
between the two. Therefore, in this review, we will focus
primarily on thermoacoustic tomography in theoretical
and experimental studies. Nevertheless, in vivo and in vi-
tro results of both microwave tomography and thermo-
acoustic tomography will be presented in the applications
section.
In the 1980s, several investigators employed micro-
wave-induced thermoacoustic waves for imaging of biolog-
ical tissues [3,4]; these early works, however, did not
produce any tomographic or depth-resolved images. For
example, in a study of the acoustic imaging of a model of a
human hand using pulsed microwave irradiation [3], no
tomographic reconstruction was utilized and, consequent-
ly, the produced image is a diffraction-propagated projec-
tion of the sample to the detection array. More recent
progress realized tomographic imaging of biological tis-
sues based on microwave-induced thermoacoustic waves.
The microwave thermoacoustic tomography scanner re-
ported in Ref. 5 was used to image a human breast in vivo
and produced 3D maps of tissue absorption at 434MHz
with a spatial resolution of 1.54 mm throughout a 12.8
12.8 12.8 cm cubical volume. Another research group
achieved a spatial resolution of 0.5mm in the 2D thermo-
acoustic tomography of phantoms [6].
The remainder of this article is composed as follows.
First, we introduce the three mechanisms that are re-
sponsible for the dielectric properties of tissues over the
microwave frequency range. Then we address some of the
important theoretical issues surrounding thermoacoustic
tomography, such as optimal microwave frequency, the ef-
fects of acoustical heterogeneity on breast thermoacoustic
tomography, limited-view thermoacoustic tomography, the
reconstruction algorithms, and spatial resolution. Then
our experimental setups and results from applying the-
rmoacoustic tomography to phantoms in planar and cir-
cular geometries are explained. Last, some in vivo and in
vitro results of both pure microwave imaging and thermo-
acoustic tomography are presented.
2. MICROWAVE CONTRAST
There are primarily three mechanisms responsible for the
dielectric properties of tissues over the microwave fre-
quency range. The rst one is the g dispersion, in the
gigahertz region, which is due to the dielectric relaxation
of the free water in tissues. The second one, b dispersion,
in the hundreds of kilohertz region, is due mainly to the
polarization of cellular membranes that act as barriers to
the ow of ions between intra- and extracellular media.
Other contributions to the b dispersion come from the po-
larization of protein and other organic macromolecules.
Last, the low-frequency a dispersion is associated with
ionic diffusion processes at the site of the cellular mem-
brane. In addition, tissues have nite ionic conductivities
commensurate with the nature and extent of their ionic
content and mobility [7]. For example, the contributions to
the conductivity of barnacle muscle at 371C from the a, b,
and g dispersions are 17, 7, and 1mS/cm, respectively, at
1 GHz; 17, 16.5, and 6.5mS/cm, respectively, at 2.5GHz;
and 17, 25.5, and 25.5 mS/cm, respectively, at 5 GHz [8].
Therefore, the dielectric properties of the tissues at the
2530 MEDICAL IMAGING WITH MICROWAVE: THERMOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY
microwave range are related to their ionic content and
mobility, the membrane proteins, and the free water
content.
3. THERMOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY THEORY
In this section, some basic but important theoretical is-
sues in thermoacoustic tomography are addressed to pro-
vide a comprehensive understanding of its technical side.
The following topics are covered.
1. What is the optimal microwave frequency for a spe-
cific imaging application? Basically, two factors need
to be considered here. The rst one is imaging depth.
Higher microwave frequency leads to more attenu-
ation and, consequently, less imaging depth. The
second factor is the contrast between different tis-
sues or between malign and normal tissues. Usually,
at higher frequencies, it is easier to distinguish dif-
ferent tissues. Balancing these two factors is essen-
tial in selecting the optimal microwave frequency for
a specific application.
2. In a clinical environment, access to thermoacoustic
signals is spatially limited. For example, in the the-
rmoacoustic tomography of skin and breast, the the-
rmoacoustic signals can be detected from only one
side of the tissues. In these cases, do we have enough
information to reconstruct the electromagnetic
energy deposition in the tissues? This situation is
referred to as limited-view thermoacoustic tomo-
graphy.
3. Biological tissues are usually acoustically heteroge-
neous, which causes the distortion of thermoacoustic
waves. Acoustic distortion has hindered the devel-
opment of ultrasound tomography. Can thermo-
acoustic tomography overcome this obstacle? We
use breast thermoacoustic tomography as an exam-
ple to show that the acoustic distortion in the the-
rmoacoustic tomography of soft tissues is not
serious.
4. Other basic issues in thermoacoustic tomography,
such as exact and approximate reconstruction algo-
rithms and the point spread function of a thermo-
acoustic tomography system are also addressed
here.
3.1. Optimal RF Frequencies for Thermoacoustic
Tomography
Figure 1a shows the penetration depth of electromagnetic
waves in various human tissues as a function of the fre-
quency in the radiofrequency (RF) region, where the pen-
etration depth is the inverse of the absorption coefcient
[1]. The penetration depths of muscle and fat tissues are
plotted in solid lines. At a frequency of 3 GHz, the pene-
tration depths for fat and muscle are 9 and 1.2cm, respec-
tively. The penetration depths of normal and malignant
human breast tissues are plotted in dashed lines [9]. At
3 GHz, the penetration depths for malignant and normal
breast tissue are approximately 2.3 and 4.4cm, respec-
tively. Malignant breast tissue is more strongly absorbent
to microwaves than the surrounding normal breast tissue.
Muscle and fat tissues have very high and very low water
contents, respectively: therefore, they represent the ex-
treme microwave absorption properties. Most other soft
tissues have an absorption coefcient between those of
muscle and fat tissues. The wide range of values among
various tissues is desirable for achieving high imaging
contrast.
The dependence of the thermoacoustic signals on the
electromagnetic frequency and the breast tumor location
(the depth from the tissue surface) is shown in Fig. 1b [1].
If the detection system is instrument-noise-limited, the
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the system is different from
this thermoacoustic signal by a constant factor. The SNR
decreases as the tumor location is farther away because of
the increasingly attenuated microwave intensity. When a
tumor is located near the tissue surface, for example, at
1 cm depth, the SNR is better at higher RF frequencies.
When the tumor is located more deeply, the choice of fre-
quency for an optimal SNR is rather broad. This is because
the decrease in thermoacoustic pressure that accompanies
an increasing frequency is compensated for by the increas-
ing difference of the RFabsorption coefcients between the
tumor and the normal breast tissues.
3.2. Limited-View Problem
Limited-view thermoacoustic tomography was investigat-
ed in Ref. 10 to determine what kind of boundary can be
correctly reconstructed when some of the thermoacoustic
signals are missed. A detection region, within which all
points have sufcient detection views, was dened. It was
explained analytically and shown numerically that the
0.1
1
10
100
10 100 1000
P
e
n
e
t
r
a
t
i
o
n

d
e
p
t
h

(
c
m
)
Frequency (MHz)
Fat
Muscle
Malignant
breast tissue
Normal
breast tissue
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
10 100 1000
S
i
g
n
a
l

(
a
.
u
.
)
Frequency (MHz)
1 cm
3 cm
6 cm
(a) (b)
Figure 1. (a) Penetration depths of various
biological tissues versus the microwave fre-
quency; (b) a simulated piezoelectric signal in
response to a thermoacoustic wave from a tis-
sue sample containing a buried tumor versus
the microwave frequency. (Reprinted with per-
mission from Ref. 1. Copyright 2004, Ameri-
can Association of Physicists in Medicine.)
MEDICAL IMAGING WITH MICROWAVE: THERMOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY 2531
boundaries of any objects inside this region could be re-
covered stably. Outside of this region, some sharp details
become blurred. One can identify in advance the parts of
the boundaries that will be affected if the detection view is
insufcient. In particular, a piece of the boundary of an
object (i.e., interfaces between objects) can be stably re-
constructed if, and only if, at least one of its two normal
directions passes through a detector position. Otherwise
the boundary piece cannot be reconstructed sharply no
matter what reconstruction algorithms are used.
In order to support these theoretical conclusions, three
types of reconstruction methods were utilized: a ltered
backprojection (FBP) approximate inversion, which is
shown to work well for limited-view data, a local-tomo-
graphy-type reconstruction that emphasizes sharp details
(e.g., boundaries of inclusions), and an iterative algebraic
truncated conjugate gradient algorithm used in conjunc-
tion with FBP. Computations conducted for both numer-
ically simulated and experimental data conrmed the
theoretical predictions.
The following experimental results illustrate the
abovementioned theoretical conclusions. The sample and
the polar coordinate system describing the scanning orbit
in the experiment are shown in Fig. 2a. The sample con-
sisted of a muscle cylinder of 4 mm in diameter and 5 mm
in length embedded in a chunk of pork fat 1.2cm in radius.
There was a 10-mm fat layer below the muscle and an-
other 7-mm one above it. An electromagnetic pulse was
delivered to the sample from below (i.e., from behind the
picture plane). Thermoacoustic data were collected
around the sample over a 2p angular span with 161 steps,
and a scanning radius of 71 mm. Figures 2b2d show the
reconstructed images using FBP with three sets of data.
In the rst of them, the data were collected along a circu-
lar detector arc of 92 degrees located at the top of the pic-
ture (Fig. 2a) and almost symmetric with respect to its
vertical axis. One sees that the left and right boundaries of
the muscle cylinder and of the pork chunk are blurred,
because their normal lines do not touch the detector arc,
while the rest of the boundary is sharp. The next gure
shows a reconstruction obtained with the data collected
from a 2021 arc, which is the case when the whole phan-
tom ts into the detection region. All boundaries are sharp
now. Finally, the last gure shows the reconstruction
with the full-view data. It can be seen that the image
reconstructed from the partial-view data (Fig. 2c) has a
Energy deposition
Minimum Maximum
5 mm
CM
Fat
Muscle
90
180 0
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 2. (a) Photograph of the experimental
sample. (bd) Thermoacoustic tomography recon-
structions using detection arcs of 921 [from 501 to
1421 in (a)], 2021 (from 181 to 1841), and 3601,
respectively. The blurred parts of the boundaries
in (b), which are due to the limited view, agree
with the theoretical predictions. In (c) all the
boundaries are resolved, since the object ts
into the detection region. (Reprinted with per-
mission from Ref. 10. Copyright 2004, American
Association of Physicists in Medicine.)
2532 MEDICAL IMAGING WITH MICROWAVE: THERMOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY
comparable quality with the image from the full-view data
(Fig. 2d).
3.3. Effects of Acoustical Heterogeneity on Breast
Thermoacoustic Tomography
Acoustic heterogeneities in breast thermoacoustic tomo-
graphy can cause two types of wavefront distortion: am-
plitude distortion and phase distortion [11]. Amplitude
distortion is due to refraction-induced multiple-path in-
terference. When there is acoustic heterogeneity across a
tissue interface, refraction occurs. Because of refraction,
rays from a single source can reach the same receiver by
different paths. The interference between these rays caus-
es amplitude distortions. These amplitude distortions are
strong in pure ultrasound tomography. However, the am-
plitude distortions are shown to be insignificant in the-
rmoacoustic tomography because of the low-frequency
nature of the thermoacoustic pulses [11]. The effects of
phase distortions (errors in time of ight) were numeri-
cally studied. The numerical results on the spreads of the
point sources and boundaries caused by phase distortions
are in good agreement with the following formula
wr
Z
ar
00
dl
p
1
where w(r) is the width of the point spread function at r
along line l
p
and a(r
00
) 1 v
s0
/v
p
(r
00
) is the velocity devi-
ation of v
p
(r
00
), the acoustic speed at point r
00
, from the
background speed v
s0
.
Acoustic heterogeneity can result in blurring and arti-
facts. Nevertheless, it was demonstrated that the blurring
of images can be compensated for by using the distribution
of the acoustic velocity in reconstructions of weakly het-
erogeneous tissues. The effects of the errors in the acous-
tical velocities on this compensation were also
investigated.
3.4. Reconstruction Algorithms
Reconstruction algorithms, including both exact and ap-
proximate ones, have been studied extensively in thermo-
acoustic tomography. It has been proved that exact
reconstructions in thermoacoustic tomography are equiv-
alent to time-reversing the pressure eld across the de-
tection surface back to the time when the thermoacoustic
sources were excited. Exact reconstruction algorithms for
thermoacoustic tomography have been derived for planar,
cylindrical, and spherical geometries [6,12,13] using se-
ries expansion, and for an arbitrary geometry using time-
reversal methods [14]. The reconstruction algorithms pro-
posed in Refs. 12 and 13 are computationally efcient with
the use of the fast Fourier transform. These formulas can
also be used to evaluate the resolution of thermoacoustic
tomography, as will be shown in Section 3.5, and to opti-
mize the system design.
These exact thermoacoustic tomography reconstruc-
tions can also be implemented in a backprojection algo-
rithm [14,15] after assuming that the distance between
the objects and the detectors is much larger than the
typical acoustic wavelength
Ar
1
2pZv
5
s0
I
S
dS
0
n r
0
r
t
2
@pr
0
; t
@t

t jr
0
rj=v
s0
2
where A(r) is the reconstructed value at r, p(r
0
, t) is the
thermoacoustic signal at r
0
and time t, n is the outward
normal to the detection surface S at r
0
, and Z is a constant.
An important improvement of this backprojection algo-
rithm over the usual backprojection (delay-and-sum)
algorithms used in thermoacoustic tomography is that
an orientation factor is included. Equation (2) can also
be extended to derive quantitative reconstruction algo-
rithms for limited-view thermoacoustic tomography [10].
3.5. Spatial Resolution
Spatial resolution is an important index of an imaging
system. Spatial resolution in thermoacoustic tomography
can be affected by various factors, such as the system
bandwidth, the detector aperture, and the acoustic heter-
ogeneity of the to-be-imaged object. The effects of acoustic
heterogeneity on the resolution can be described by
Eq. (1). In this subsection, we will rst discuss the effects
of the system bandwidth. The dependence of the spatial
resolution on the system bandwidth, which is the com-
bined bandwidth of the microwave bandwidth and the de-
tector bandwidth, is presented in Ref. 16. Three special
detection geometries, including spherical, planar, and cy-
lindrical surface, as well as an arbitrary detection geom-
etry, were investigated. Analytic expressions of the point
spread function (PSF), as a function of the system band-
width, were derived from rigorous reconstruction formu-
las. Extension of the results to an arbitrary geometry is
also discussed. The analyses reveal that the PSF for an
arbitrary detection geometry is space-invariant and de-
pends only on the frequency response function of the the-
rmoacoustic tomography system.
The effects of the nite size of the detector aperture on
the systems resolution were also studied in the planar,
spherical, and cylindrical detection geometries. In the pla-
nar geometry, the PSF is space-invariant and anisotropic;
the lateral PSF (parallel to the detection plane) is just the
prole of the detector and the axial PSF is a delta function.
In the spherical geometry, the PSF is space-variant and
anisotropic; the lateral PSF at r (perpendicular to the ra-
dius) is just the prole of the detector scaled down by the
ratio of the radius of point r and the radius of the detection
surface while the PSF along the radius is a delta function.
In the cylindrical geometry, the PSF is space-variant and
anisotropic and is a mix of the PSFs of planar and spher-
ical geometries.
4. THERMOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY EXPERIMENTS
In this section, the experimental setups and results of
the thermoacoustic tomography of the phantoms are
presented to demonstrate the principles and resolution
capabilities of thermoacoustic tomography. Most of the
thermoacoustic tomography setups are in either circular
MEDICAL IMAGING WITH MICROWAVE: THERMOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY 2533
or planar geometry. In the circular geometry thermoacous-
tic tomography, the detector was scanned along a circle;
while in the planar geometry thermoacoustic tomography,
the detector was scanned along a line or a plane. The
choice of the geometry depended mainly on the geometry
of the tissues to be imaged.
4.1. Circular Geometry
Figure 3 shows the experimental setup for the circular
thermoacoustic tomography [6]. The transducer was un-
focused and had a central frequency of 2.25 MHz and a
diameter of 6mm. It pointed horizontally to the center of
Microwave generator
Step motor
Sample
Transducer
Mineral oil
Pulse amplifier
Computer
Function
generator
Oscilloscope
Driver
y
x
z
Figure 3. The experimental setup for circular
thermoacoustic tomography. (Reprinted with
permission from Ref. 6. Copyright 2002,
IEEE.)
26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34
0.2
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
C
2
C
1
B
2
A
2
A
1
B
1
R
e
c
o
n
s
t
r
u
c
t
e
d

p
r
o
f
i
l
e

(
a
.
u
.
)
Horizontal axis y (mm)
Fat
Gelatin
(a)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Horizontal axis x (mm)
H
o
r
i
z
o
n
t
a
l

a
x
i
s

y

(
m
m
)
0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
(b)
Figure 4. (a) Cross section of a tissue sample
in circular thermoacoustic tomography; (b) re-
constructed image; (c) comparison between a
line prole (solid curve) of the reconstructed
image (b) at x 27.45mm and the correspond-
ing grayscale prole (dashed curve) of the orig-
inal image (a). (Reprinted with permission
from Ref. 6. Copyright 2002, IEEE.)
2534 MEDICAL IMAGING WITH MICROWAVE: THERMOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY
the rotation stage. For good coupling of the acoustic waves,
both the transducer and the sample were immersed in
mineral oil. The microwave pulses were transmitted from
a 3-GHz microwave generator with a pulse energy of
10 mJ and a width of 0.5ms, and then delivered to the
sample from the bottom by a rectangular waveguide.
The sample shown in Fig. 4a was made of a thin piece of
homogeneous pork fat tissue (5mm thick and a maximum
diameter of 4cm) including a set of small gel cylinders
(made from a solution of 5% gelatin, 0.8% salt, and a drop
of dark ink to improve the photographic properties of the
sample). During the experiment, the transducer rotation-
ally scanned the sample from 01 to 3601 with a stepsize of
2.251. The detection radius was 43 mm.
The image reconstructed with the backprojection meth-
od is shown in Fig. 4b; it agrees well with the real sample.
The relative locations and sizes of the gel cylinders are
clearly resolved and perfectly match the original ones.
Figure 4c shows the plot (solid curve) along the line at x
27.45 mm in Fig. 4b. The reconstructed prole is in good
agreement with the original prole (dashed curve), which
is the corresponding grayscale prole in Fig. 4b. The half-
amplitude line cuts across the reconstructed prole at
points B
1
, A
1
, A
2
, and B
2
, respectively. The distances
|A
1
B
1
|1.72 mm and |A
2
B
2
|1.67mm in the image
are close to the measured real values of about 1.80
and 1.60 mm, respectively. Therefore, the width of the pro-
le at the half-amplitude closely measures its physical
size.
Figure 5 demonstrates the large penetration depth of
microwave in soft tissues. The sample (Fig. 5a) is similar
to the one used in Fig. 4 except that this one was much
larger (the diameter of the fat is 70 mm), as shown. The
reconstructed image (Fig. 5c) agrees well with the real
sample (Fig. 5b).
4.2. Planar Geometry
In the planar thermoacoustic tomography, the detector
was scanned over a plane or a line [12]. The experimental
setup is reported in Ref. 17 and, for convenience, is only
briefly described here (see also Fig. 6). The x axis points
perpendicularly to the drawing plane, the y axis points to
the right in the plane, and the z axis points downward
along the acoustic axis. Microwave pulses were transmit-
ted by a 9-GHz microwave generator. The pulsewidth is
0.5 ms. The imaged object shown in Fig. 7c is a cylinder of
pork fat containing a thin layer of connective tissue, la-
beled as (7), and six yellow microstructures, labeled
25 mm
25 mm
Gelatin
Fat
Transducer
Rotation axis
5 mm
Microwave
70 mm
Gelatin
Fat
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Horizontal axis x (mm)
H
o
r
i
z
o
n
t
a
l

a
x
i
s

y

(
m
m
)
0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 5. (a) Diagram of the sample struc-
ture and the measurement for circular the-
rmoacoustic tomography; (b) cross-section of
the tissue sample; and (c) reconstructed im-
age. (Reprinted with permission from Ref. 6.
Copyright 2002, IEEE.)
MEDICAL IMAGING WITH MICROWAVE: THERMOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY 2535
(1)(6), respectively. The diameter of the cylinder fat was
14 mm and the length in the x direction 30 mm. The
cylinder was immersed in mineral oil. The central fre-
quency of the ultrasonic transducer was 2.25 MHz, the
bandwidth was 1.8 MHz, and the diameter of the active
element was 6 mm.
As shown in the discussion on resolution of thermo-
acoustic tomography in the last section, the nite size of
the detector aperture can seriously blur the image. To im-
prove the system resolution, deconvolution with respect to
the nite size of the detector surface was applied to the
reconstructed image [12]. In the reconstructed image be-
fore deconvolution (Fig. 7a), the connective tissue between
the two parts of fat and the yellow microstructures is im-
aged clearly. The dimension of the image is 16.4 mm along
the z direction and 19.2mm along the y direction. Howev-
er, it is obvious that the image before deconvolution is
blurred along the y axis, which makes the lateral bound-
aries unclear and the yellow microstructures (1), (2) and
(3), (4) merge into one object, respectively. The lateral res-
olution of the image after deconvolution (Fig. 7b) is greatly
improved. The merged objects can be distinguished clear-
ly, and the lateral boundaries of the cylinder become much
clearer. The dimension of the fat cylinder in the image af-
ter deconvolution was 16.4mm along the z direction and
16.7 mm along the y direction.
Ultrasonic
transducer
y
z
Sample
Microwave
generator
x
Figure 6. Experimental setup for planar thermoacoustic tomo-
graphy. (Reprinted with permission from Ref. 12. Copyright 2002,
IEEE.)
0 5 10 15 20
0
5
10
15
20
Horizontal axis y (mm)
V
e
r
t
i
c
a
l

a
x
i
s

z

(
m
m
)
0.002 0.000 0.002
Energy deposition (a.u.) Energy deposition (a.u.)
0 5 10 15 20
0
5
10
15
20
Horizontal axis y (mm)
V
e
r
t
i
c
a
l

a
x
i
s

z

(
m
m
)
0.003 0.000 0.003
(7)
(4) (5) (3)
(6)
(2)
(1)
(6)
(2) (3) (4)
(5)
(1)
(7)
CM
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 7. The reconstructed images from the
experimental data in a planar thermoacoustic
tomography (a) before and (b) after the deconvo-
lution with respect to the detector surface; (c)
cross section of a cylinder of fat sample contain-
ing six yellow microstructures labeled from (1) to
(6) and a layer of connective tissue in the middle
labeled as (7). (Reprinted from Ref. 12. Copy-
right 2002, IEEE.) (This gure is available in full
color at http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/
erfme.)
2536 MEDICAL IMAGING WITH MICROWAVE: THERMOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY
5. APPLICATIONS OF THERMOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY
AND MICROWAVE TOMOGRAPHY
The feasibility of utilizing microwave tomography for bi-
ological imaging has been demonstrated on volunteers
forearms, a canine kidney, explanted static and beating
canine hearts, and breast imaging. Figure 8 shows the re-
sults of imaging experiments and anatomical slices from a
canine heart [18]. Both anatomical slices demonstrate an
area of left ventricle myocardium with significant infarc-
tion. A longitudinal view (through the long axis base to
apex) is presented on top in Fig. 8 for e
0
(the real part of
complex dielectric permittivity e), and a transversal view
(through an area with significant infarction injury) is pre-
sented at the bottom of Fig. 8 for e
00
(the imaginary part of
e). Areas of the images of the heart with dielectric prop-
erties similar to the dielectric properties of infarct myo-
cardium are plotted in crimson and red for e
0
and e
00
,
respectively. As can be seen, the reconstructed images re-
veal the shape and intracardiac anatomy. Furthermore,
suspected areas of infarction (in terms of the dielectric
properties) are consistent with anatomical slices. Because
of the imperfection of the procedure for image reconstruc-
tion, there are areas of the image of e
0
with dielectric prop-
erties similar to those of the infracted area (colored in
crimson). However, correlation of suspected infarct areas
of the images of e
0
with corresponding areas of the images
of e
00
helps determine the location of the exact area of the
infarction. This is supported by the next group of images
presented in Fig. 9 for |e|.
The response of breast cancer to chemotherapy was
also measured with thermoacoustic tomography [19]. Lon-
gitudinal changes in breast architecture during primary
chemotherapy produce dramatic changes in RFabsorption
as revealed with thermoacoustic tomography. The tumor
mass appears to have decreased markedly after 7 weeks of
chemotherapy treatment, as indicated by the arrows, but
there is little change thereafter (Fig. 10).
6. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE STUDIES
Microwaves can be used in medical imaging to extract the
physiological and pathological status of tissues deep in the
body. Thermoacoustic tomography has a higher resolution
than does microwave tomography. Some preliminary re-
sults of studies on optimal microwave frequencies, the ef-
fects of acoustical heterogeneity on breast thermoacoustic
tomography, limited-view thermoacoustic tomography,
reconstruction algorithms, and spatial resolution are pre-
sented. The experimental results of circular thermoacous-
tic tomography show a spatial resolution of about 0.5mm.
We also present some in vivo and in vitro results that
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
0
1
1
Cross_section Y=0.2 cm
Cross_section Z=0.2 cm
Z
6
4
2
0
2
4
6
5 0 5
5 0 5
Y
6
4
2
0
2
4
6
1
1
4
5
0
1
2
1
3
X
Myocardial
infarction
c

72
71.3
70.6
69.9
69.2
68.8
67.9
67.2
66.5
65.9
65.2
64.5
63.8
63.2
71.3
61.8
61.1
60.5
59.8
59.1
58.4
57.8
57.1
56.4
55.7
55.1
54.4
53.7
53.0
52.4
51.7
c

23.3
22.9
22.5
22.1
21.7
21.2
20.8
20.4
20.0
19.6
19.2
18.8
18.4
17.9
17.5
17.1
16.7
16.3
15.9
15.5
14.7
15.1
14.2
13.8
13.4
13.0
12.6
12.2
11.8
11.4
11
(a)
(b)
LV Chamber
Figure 8. Reconstructed images of excised canine
heart [(a) longitudinal view through the long axis
base to apex and through the left ventricle (LV) cham-
ber for e
0
and (b) transversal view through an area with
significant infarction injury for e
00
] together with ana-
tomical slices. Scales are in centimeters. (Reprinted
from Ref. 18.) (This gure is available in full color at
http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/erfme.)
MEDICAL IMAGING WITH MICROWAVE: THERMOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY 2537
demonstrate the feasibility of clinical applications of
thermoacoustic tomography and microwave tomography.
Nevertheless, there are still questions about thermo-
acoustic tomography that deserve further investigation.
For example, it has generally been assumed that with
thermoacoustic tomography, microwaves are homoge-
neous in the tissues under study. However, microwave at-
tenuation and the variation of microwave within one
wavelength can result in microwave heterogeneity. The
effects of microwave heterogeneity on thermoacoustic
tomography are still unknown. Another challenge for the-
rmoacoustic tomography is brain imaging. In this case, the
skull may cause distortion of the thermoacoustic waves.
Consequently, the capability to obtain high-quality images
from distorted signals is critical for the application of
thermoacoustic tomography to brain imaging.
5 0 5
Y
X
6
4
2
0
2
4
6
5 0 5
6
4
2
0
2
4
6
5 0 5
6
4
2
0
2
4
6

(a)
(b)
(c)
5
6
7
8
9
1
0
1
1
1
2
1
3
1
4
1
5
2
1
3
4
71.4
71.8
70.9
70.5
70.0
69.5
69.1
68.6
68.1
67.7
67.2
66.8
66.3
65.8
65.4
64.9
64.4
64.0
63.5
63.1
59.1
62.6
62.1
61.7
61.2
60.8
60.3
59.8
59.4
58.9
58.4
58.0
71.1
71.5
70.8
70.4
70.0
69.6
69.3
68.9
68.5
68.1
67.8
67.4
67.0
66.6
66.2
65.9
65.5
65.1
64.7
64.4
63.6
63.2
64.0
62.9
62.5
62.1
61.7
61.3
61.0
60.6
60.2
71.1
71.7
70.5
69.9
69.3
68.7
68.0
67.4
66.8
66.2
65.6
65.0
64.3
63.7
63.1
62.5
61.9
61.3
60.6
60.0
59.4
58.8
58.2
57.6
56.9
56.3
55.7
55.1
54.5
53.9
53.2
Figure 9. Reconstructed images of excised ca-
nine heart [(ac) transversal view for |e| with
an increment of image position in the longitudinal
direction of 1 cm] together with anatomical slices.
Scales are in centimeters. (Reprinted with per-
mission from Ref. 18.) (This gure is available in
full color at http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.
com/erfme.)
2538 MEDICAL IMAGING WITH MICROWAVE: THERMOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. G. Ku and L.-H. V. Wang, Scanning microwave-induced the-
rmoacoustic tomography: Signal, resolution, and contrast,
Med. Phys. 28:410 (2001).
2. P. M. Meaney, K. D. Paulsen, A. Hartov, and R. K. Crane,
Microwave imaging for tissue assessment: Initial evaluation
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med Eng. 43:878890 (1996).
3. T. Bowen, L. Nasoni, A. E. Pifer, and G. H. Sembrosk, Some
experimental results on the thermoacoustic imaging of soft
tissue-equivalent phantoms, Proc. IEEE Ultrasonics Symp.,
1981, Vol. 2, pp. 823827.
4. R. Olsen and J. Lin, Acoustic imaging of a model of a human
hand using pulsed microwave irradiation, Bioelectromagnet-
ics 4:397400 (1983).
5. R. Kruger, W. Kiser, D, Reinecke, and G. Kruger, Application
of thermoacoustic computerized tomography to breast imag-
ing. Proc. SPIE 3659:426430 (1999).
6. M. Xu and L.-H. V. Wang, Time-domain reconstruction for
thermoacoustic tomography in a spherical geometry, IEEE
Trans. Med. Imag. 21:814822 (2002).
7. C. Garbriel, S. Garbiel, and E. Corthout, The dielectric prop-
erties of biological tissues: I. Literature survey, Phys. Med.
Biol. 41:22312249 (1996).
8. K. R. Foster and J. L. Schepps, Dielectric properties of tumor
and normal tissues at radio through microwave frequencies,
J. Microwave Power 16:107119 (1981).
9. S. Chaudhary, R. Mishra, A. Swarup, and J. Thomas, Dielec-
tric properties of normal & malignant human breast tissues
at radiowave and microwave frequencies, Indian J. Biochem.
Biophys. 21:7679 (1984).
10. Y. Xu and L.-H. V. Wang, Reconstructions in limited-
view thermoacoustic tomography, Med. Phys. 31:724733
(2004).
11. Y. Xu and L.-H. Wang, Effects of acoustic heterogeneity on
thermoacoustic tomography in the breast, IEEE Trans. Ul-
trason. Ferr. Freq. Control 50:11341146 (2003).
12. Y. Xu, D. Feng, and L.-H. V. Wang, Exact frequency-domain
reconstruction for thermoacoustic tomography: I. Planar ge-
ometry, IEEE Trans. Med. Imag. 21:823828 (2002).
13. Y. Xu, M. Xu, and L.-H. V. Wang, Exact frequency-
domain reconstruction for thermoacoustic tomography: II.
Cylindrical geometry, IEEE Trans. Med. Imag. 21:829833
(2002).
14. Y. Xu and L.-H. V. Wang, Time reversal and its application to
tomography with diffracting sources, Phys. Rev. Lett.
92:033902 (2004).
15. M. Xu, Y. Xu, and L.-H. Wang, Time-domain reconstruction
algorithms and numerical simulations for thermoacoustic
tomography in various geometries, IEEE Trans. Biomed.
Eng. 50:10861099 (2003).
16. M. Xu and L.-H. Wang, Analytic explanation of spatial reso-
lution related to bandwidth and detector aperture size in the-
rmoacoustic or photoacoustic reconstruction, Phys. Rev. E
67(056605):115 (2003).
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 10. Thermoacoustic tomography
breast images (a) before, (b) after 7 weeks
in, and (c) after 13 weeks in chemotherapy.
(Reprinted with permission from Ref. 19.)
MEDICAL IMAGING WITH MICROWAVE: THERMOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY 2539
17. D. Feng, Y. Xu, G. Ku, and L.-H. V. Wang, Microwave-induced
thermoacoustic tomography: Reconstruction by synthetic ap-
erture, Med. Phys. 28:24272431 (2001).
18. S. Y. Semenov, A. E. Bulyshev, V. G. Posuk, Y. E. Sizov, T. C.
Williams, and A. E. Souvorov, Microwave tomography for de-
tection/imaging of myocardial infarction. I. Excised canine
hearts, Ann. of Biomed. Eng. 31:262270 (2003).
19. R. A. Kruger, Homepage, Optosonics Inc. (Online), http://
www.optosonics.com/tct-human.html(Jan. 15, 2004).
MEI METHOD
KENNETH K. MEI
City University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
1. INTRODUCTION
The MEI (measured equation of invariance) method was
originally developed as an absorbing boundary condition
to terminate FD/FE (nite-difference/nite-element) equa-
tions at the mesh boundary. Later improvements, which
have brought the MEI terminating equations to the
boundary of the target surface, bypassing the need for
the FD/FE mesh and equations, have advanced the MEI
method to become a numerical method in its own right.
The objective of this article is to present the theory on
which the method is based, the latest developments in
MEI technology, and a guide to numerous applications of
the method.
Numerical solutions of Maxwells equations use either
integral equations or differential equations. The classical
solution of a radiation problem by the differential equation
approach requires a radiation condition, known as the
Sommerfelds radiation condition, applied at innity, that
is, at a distant location from the radiating object. Numer-
ical solutions by the differential equation approach utilize
the nite-difference or nite-element equations (FD/FE)
also require radiation conditions, which are applied at the
mesh boundary, preferably as close to the object boundary
as possible. Such boundary equations are often known as
absorbing boundary conditions (ABCs). An earlier absorb-
ing boundary condition by Mei [1] is robust but is global in
nature; that is, a full matrix of eld values at all the
boundary nodes is required. A representative local absorb-
ing boundary condition, which produces equations of the
elds only at a few neighboring nodes, is that by Enquist
and Majda [2]; however, like most local absorbing bound-
ary conditions, it is robust only when the mesh boundary
is far from the object surface. An extensive list of refer-
ences to local absorbing boundary conditions may be found
in the Ref. 3. Almost all local absorption boundary condi-
tions use plane waves as models for absorption. An ab-
sorption equation can usually absorb plane waves
perfectly at a few angles of arrival. The latest addition
to absorbing boundary condition is the perfectly matched
layer (PML) by Berenger [4], which uses a special layer of
nonisotropic material capable of absorbing plane waves
arriving at any angle.
Common to all absorbing boundary equations is that
the equations are all derived from an assumption of a
known incident wave. The MEI method of obtaining
boundary equations is based on the observation that there
is symmetry between the coefcients a
i
and the eld val-
ues f
i
in a linear equation:
a
1
f
1
a
2
f
2
a
3
f
3
a
4
f
4
0 1
Normally, the coefcients represent the equation, which
are known, and the f
i
values represent the solutions to be
found. The symmetry of the equation tells us that if the
eld values were known, we could also recover the coef-
cients or the equation at any point. In Eq. (1), for example,
since the equation equals zero, one of the coefcients can
be set to unity, and thus three sets of linearly independent
solutions should give a 33 matrix, from which the coef-
cients can be calculated. This suggests that if Eq. (1)
were a boundary equation of a radiation problem, the ab-
sorbing boundary equation would be contained in the so-
lutions. We shall designate each linear equation of the a
i
terms by substituting a set of solutions f
i
in Eq. (1) as a
measure. This requires n1 measures to nd the coef-
cients of a linear equation of n unknowns.
At rst glance, the insight we have come up with does
not seem to be useful because the solutions are unknowns,
which are unavailable to us. Actually solutions to a radi-
ation problem of a specific geometry are not difcult to
obtain. Only the solution to a specific excitation and
of a specific geometry is difcult to nd. The procedures
and justication for MEI are presented in the following
sections.
2. THE POSTULATE OF INVARIANCE
Let us limit the present discussion to two-dimensional
problems of wave scattering for pedagogical purposes. Fig-
ure 1 represents scattering of a plane wave, either TE or
TM, by an innite cylinder of arbitrary shape. A solution
of the scattered eld can be readily obtained by the fol-
lowing integral
f
k

I
C
Gr=r
0
J
k
r
0
dc
0
2

i
Figure 1. Schematics of a 2D scattering problem.
2540 MEI METHOD
where G(r/r
0
) is the Green function of the 2D wave equa-
tion and J
k
is a current we assign to the scatterer. We shall
name each assigned current a metron and the resulting
eld f
k
, a measuring function. When n1 measuring
functions are substituted into a boundary equation, we
can calculate the coefcients of the boundary equations by
solving an (n1) (n1) matrix. In order for the method
to work, it is necessary that the boundary equations be
invariant with respect to the excitations or the incident
elds. Mei [5] postulates that in order to bring the termi-
nating boundary close to the scatterer, a terminating
boundary equation should t the following prole:
1. It must be different for different target geometry.
2. It must be different at different locations.
3. It must be invariant with respect to excitation so
that the process of measure can work.
During the early development period of the MEI method,
it was strictly used as a technique to terminate nite dif-
ference equations. The metrons
J
k
r
0
cos 2k 1p
l
0
L
& '
k 1; 2; . . . 3
have been used, where L is the total circumferential
length of the scatterer and l
0
is the circumferential dis-
tance from a reference. A two-dimensional scattering
problem can normally be solved this way by only four
layers of nite-difference equations. Each boundary equa-
tion is formulated at six adjacent nodal points on the
outer two layers, as shown in Fig. 2. Figures 3 and 4 show
[
1
[
0
[
2
[
5
[
4
[
3
Figure 2. The six points for a boundary equation.
a
a/4 l = 0
l = L
[
i
( = 0)
a
l = 0
l = L
[
i
( = 0)
D
1
D
2
D
2
= 0.845a
D
1
= 0.445a
r
1
= 0.100a
r
2
= 0.400a
r
2
r
1
(a)
(b)
Figure 3. (a) The mesh around a rectangular cylinder; (b) the
mesh around a star-shaped cylinder.
J
c
H
i
J
c
H
i
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
(a)
(b)
3.5 4 5 4.5
3
2
1
0
1.5
0.5
2.5
l /a
MEI
MOM
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 5 4.5
3
2
1
0
1.5
0.5
2.5
l /a
MEI
MOM
Figure 4. Induced current densities on a rectangular cylinder for
l a and angle of incidence of 301 as calculated by the MEI meth-
od and MoM for (a) E wave and (b) H wave.
l / 2
10
5
0
p
o
J
x
V
o
Figure 5. Currents on a center-fed thin-strip dipole antenna (l
18.5w) for l 1.07l (the scale in y has been enlarged by a factor
of 4).
MEI METHOD 2541
some of the surface current densities on two-dimensional
scatterers found by the nite-difference method using
MEI terminations, where the results by MoM are also
presented in the same gures for comparison. In addition
to 2D problems, the MEI method has also been applied
to ribbon antennas (see Figs. 5 and 6) and scattering
of plane waves by rectangular patches and bodies of
revolution [5].
3. ACCURACY OF MEI
Shortly after the appearance of the rst paper on MEI [5],
several papers appeared in the literature [69] debating
the validity of the postulates of MEI, in particular the
postulate of invariance. There are also papers [10] ques-
tioning the accuracy of the MEI. The postulate of invari-
ance of the boundary equations to excitation (or incident
elds) should be the least controversial one of the three
postulates, because the terminating conditions are part of
the system equations. In all linear systems, including the
Maxwell equations, the equations should be independent
of the excitations.
In fact, all absorbing boundary conditions in the
published literature are obtained with no reference to
excitation. This means that the same absorbing boundary
equations are used regardless of the incident elds.
l /4
10
5
0
p
o
J
x
V
o
Figure 6. Current on an off-center-fed thin-strip dipole antenna
(l 18.5w) for l 2.12l (the scale on y has been enlarged by a
factor of 4).
4
2
0
x
y
J
x
H'
(a)
0
0.4
x y
J
x
H'
(b)
Figure 7. Current densities on a square plate
when illuminated by a normally incident plane
wave, with the E eld polarized in the z direc-
tion, with l a: (a) J
x
; (b) J
y
.
2542 MEI METHOD
Mei and Liu [7] have shown that the criticism on the
invariance arises from the misunderstandings, that the
metrons were incident elds. And, the doubts on the ac-
curacy arise from the misunderstanding that, the metrons
were base functions. In the paper by Luo et al. [11], it is
shown that the conclusions reached by Barkdoll and Lee
[10] that (1) MEI is not accurate for 3D as compared to 2D
problems and (2) the distance between the target bound-
ary and terminating boundary should be large for MEI to
be accurate in 3D, are ill-founded because the authors
have not properly applied the coupled nite difference
equations for the body of revolution [10].
(a)
(b)
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
i=1 313 625 937 1249 1561
[ = 90
[ = 60
[ = 30
[ = 0
J
s
t
H
in
J
s
[
H
in
i =851
40z
32z
E
H
Mask number
l =1 l=1701 k
o
i=1 313 625 937 1249 1561
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
[ = 90
[ = 60
[ = 30
[ = 0
i =851
40z
32z
E
H
Mask number
l =1 l=1701 k
o
Figure 8. Solutions of electromagnetic scattering problem of axially symmetric parabolic reector
with parameters aperture 80l and F
c
32l: (a) J
t
; (b) J
f
.
MEI METHOD 2543
4. APPLICATIONS OF MEI
4.1. Applications to Three-Dimensional Problems
The MEI method has been applied to scattering of plane
waves by at rectangular patches [12]. In this case, Max-
wells equations are most conveniently formulated in
terms of the vector potential, which has only two compo-
nents. The scattered elds are
H
s
rA 4
E
s

1
j$e
rH
s
5
The nite-difference mesh of the vector potentials A
x
and
A
y
are structured around the patch for four layers. The
measuring functions and the metrons are given by
A
m;n

Z
a
0
Z
b
0
Gr=r
0
J
m;n
r
0
ds 6
where G is the free-space Green function and
J
x=m;n
x; y
sin
mpx
a
cos
n 1py
b

yy b
p
1 m M; 1 n N
7
J
y=m;n
x; y
cos
m1px
a
sin
npy
b

xx a
p
1 m M; 1 n N
8
where a,b are the width and length of the patch, respec-
tively; and M, N are the total numbers of nodes along the
width and length, respectively.
The surface current densities on a square plate of side
dimension of 1.0l are shown in Fig. 7. The applications to
microstrip lines have been studied by Prouty [13].
4.2. Applications to Large Parabolic Reectors
Parabolic reectors are normally studied by physical op-
tics, which assigns the current density as twice the tan-
gential incident magnetic eld in the illuminated surface
and zero in the shadow region. It is well known that cur-
rent behaviors are much more complicated than that, par-
ticularly near the edges. A detailed inspection of the
current density cannot be realized unless we can solve
the Maxwell equations associated with a parabolic reec-
tor accurately. Such solutions can be realized nowadays by
either MoM or FD/FE methods. MoM probably would be a
preferable method for such a task over the FD/FE meth-
ods, when a large reector is considered. However, with
MEI, the situation is changed, in that the number of nodes
Node = 6
D = 10
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e
1.2
1.4
1.6
a2
a5
a1
a4
0.6
0.8
1
10
1
10
0
10
1
Wavelength (Meter)
Figure 10. Variation of the MEI coefcients of a circular
cylinder with respect to frequency.
1 2 3
4 5 6
Figure 9. Schematics of doubling mesh density and doubling
frequency.
2544 MEI METHOD
involved in the FD/FE is greatly reduced when MEI brings
the mesh termination very close to the reector surface
and preserves the advantage of the sparse matrix of the
FD/FE methods. The solutions of Maxwells equations of
parabolic reectors of diameters up to 80l have been ob-
tained by Luo et al. [11] utilizing the MEI method. The
current densities near the edge and shadow region have
been presented in Fig. 8. The standing waves of the cur-
rent densities are particularly pronounced for the radial
components, which are known to be the causes of high
copper loss and high sidelobes.
4.3. Applications to Very Large Scatterers
When the FD/FE methods are used, the resulting matrices
are very sparse. With the MEI method, which brings the
mesh termination very close to the object boundary, the
mesh region is also greatly reduced. So, the most time
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e
Length (Meter)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
1
Lambda=0.0625
Lambda/ H=20
Peripheral=64
Node=4
256 z
256 z
30
TM
A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e
Length (Meter)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
0.5
0
1
Lambda=0.0625
Lambda/ H=20
Peripheral =64
Node=4
(a)
(b)
Figure 11. Current densities on a square cyl-
inder of side dimension 256l illuminated by
301 incidence as calculated by the MEI method
as compared with those by MoM: (a) TM
nodes; (b) TE nodes.
MEI METHOD 2545
consuming part of the computation is no longer the solu-
tion of the matrix. The task of nding the boundary equa-
tions, which involves the integrations around the target
surface for the measuring functions, has become the most
demanding part of the method. The integration time is
proportional to N
2
, where N is the number of nodes on the
object surface. When the object is very large, such as hun-
dreds of wavelengths in dimension, the computational ex-
pense could be very large. To overcome such a
predicament, one may consider the method of interpola-
tion and extrapolation of the coefcients of MEI [14],
instead of direct computation. Once the boundary equa-
tions are found for a specific mesh, it is possible to double,
triple, or quadruple the density of the mesh, and obtain
the boundary equations in between nodes, by interpola-
tions of the coefcients. In effect, one can nd the bound-
ary equation at any location. Suppose that we solve a
problem at a frequency f and double the mesh density to
solve the problem at 2f, and double it again to solve it at 4f,
and so on. As the boundary nodes get closer to the bound-
ary surface as the frequency increases, the center node of
the boundary equations approach normally toward the
boundary. In that case, the coefcients of each boundary
equation converge to their respective limits. Figure 9
shows the mesh conguration as the frequency is doubled,
and Fig. 10 shows the extrapolation of the coefcients of
MEI. Figure 11 shows the current densities on a rectan-
gular cylinder of side dimension 256l, calculated using the
interpolationextrapolation technique.
y
x
a
h
d
x
d
y
E
z
i
(b)
l = L
l = 0
(a)
h
z
b
a
y
(c)
Figure 12. Mesh and schematics of a post in a rectangular wave-
guide: (a) mesh around a post; (b,c) schematics of scattering by a
post in a rectangular waveguide.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7 8
9 10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20 21
22
23
24
25
N=25
M=3
n=17
1
0
1
C
0
m
Figure 14. Boundary meshing of the scatterer for IE-MEI.
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
MEI O
|s
11
|
z = 1.8a
z = 1.2a
d/a
(a)
(b)
200
180
160
140
120
100
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
MEI O
s
11
()
z = 1.8a
z = 1.2a
d/a
Figure 13. Results of MEI and those of variational principle for
S
11
of scattering inside a rectangular waveguide.
2546 MEI METHOD
4.4. MEI and Absorbing Boundary Conditions
In an earlier paper by Ramahi et al. [15], multipole elds
were used as measuring functions to nd the absorbing
boundary conditions for 2D scattering problems. They
have termed such a boundary condition, the numerical
absorbing boundary condition (NABC). The boundary
equations, in that case, are independent of the geometry
of the scatterer. They have also included MEI as part of
the NABC [16]. We would like to point out here that MEI
includes but is not limited to ABC. An ABC cannot account
for reections from an outer boundary; that is, it is appli-
cable only if there is no incoming wave on the boundary
surface. The MEI can still be applied when there are in-
coming waves on the terminating boundary. A case illus-
trating this point is the scattering by an inductive post in
a rectangular waveguide. Figure 12 shows the FD mesh
around an elliptical post inside a rectangular waveguide.
The measuring functions are obtained by the integration
of Eq. (2) using the Green function of the waveguide. In
this case, ABC cannot be applied, but MEI is still valid.
Figure 13 shows the MEI calculated S
11
of the scattering
conguration of Fig. 12 by the MEI method as compared
with the same calculations by MoM.
5. ON-SURFACE MEI (OS-MEI) AND INTEGRAL EQUATION
MEI (IE-MEI)
In the beginning of this article, we postulated that for a
terminating boundary equation to work close to the object
boundary, it should t a prole of three characteristics. Of
all terminating boundary conditions that we know of, only
the MEI method offers boundary equations that t all the
characteristics of the prole. The immediate issue is how
close one can move the MEI boundary toward the target
surface. In the early development of the MEI, it was dis-
covered that it was possible to have only one layer of nodal
points around the target surface [12]. In that case, the
nodes on the object boundary are directly connected to the
terminating boundary. The number of unknowns is equal
to that of MoM, but one needs to solve only a tridiagonal
matrix instead of a full matrix. However, in order to bring
the terminating boundary next to the target surface, one
requires higher numerical accuracy, which involves dou-
ble precision and singular integrals on the surface of the
object. To be on the safe side, to ensure that other
researchers could easily duplicate the calculations, the
earlier results were all obtained with four layers of
nite-difference equations. Even with only one layer of
nodes around the object surface, the method is still off-
surface. One-sided nite differences are needed to nd the
surface current densities on the object surface, which con-
tribute some extra errors to the calculations.
Instead of two layers of nodes, Rius et al. [17] derived
the integral equation MEI (IE-MEI) utilizing the reciproc-
ity theorem
Z
v
E
1
J
2
H
1
M
2
dv
Z
v
E
2
J
1
H
2
M
1
dv 9
and postulated the existence of local J
2
and M
2
on neigh-
boring nodes on the surface of the object such that the
right side of Eq. (9) will vanish for all testing sources J
1
and M
1
. For a two-dimensional problem, J
2
and M
2
will be
on three adjacent nodes as shown in Fig. 14. For scattering
by conducting cylinders, we may let M
1
0, and designate
appropriate metrons to nd E
1
and H
1
to obtain the linear
equations
X
n
i 1
a
i
H
s
i

X
n
i 1
b
i
E
s
i
0 10
In Ref. 17 Rius et al. have calculated the radar scattering
cross sections of an electrically large ogive as shown in
Fig. 15. In a similar approach, Liu et al. [18] were able to
arrive at Eq. (10) by replacing the off-surface layer of E
nodes by the surface derivatives of the tangential H and
named it on-surface MEI (OS-MEI). Hirose et al. have
used the IE-MEI to solve scattering problems of imped-
ance boundary conditions [19]. With IE-MEI, one is able to
reformulate integral equations into sparse matrices,
which enables us to solve large scattering problems. So,
IE-MEI has been applied to solve 3D problems by Rius et
al. [20] for electromagnetics and by Chowdhury et al. [21]
for scalar elds.
6. CONCLUSION
It has been shown that despite some doubts expressed by
some investigators of the MEI method, there have been
many satisfactory applications of MEI reported by other
40
30
20
10
0
10
0 20 40
Aspect angle
60 80 0
TM
GO + GTD
MEI M = 3
d
B

z
R
b
a
R = 768 z
a = 768 z
b = 205 z
Figure 15. Radar cross section.
MEI METHOD 2547
investigators. The most basic assumption of the MEI
method is the existence of a local linear relation of the
elds. Such an assumption is plausible for far elds, which
is a differential relation of the elds, known as the So-
mmerfeld radiation condition in classical theory. One may
question whether it can still be so assumed on the surface
of the object. However, the success of IE-MEI suggests
that it may be true that such local linear equations do ex-
ist on the object surface. If this were true, the on-surface
Maxwell differential equations could be found. What an
exciting discovery would that be! Mei has proved the ex-
istence of the differential equation of currents on thin wire
structure. The readers may nd the presentation in the
MAXWELLIAN CIRCUITS article in this encyclopedia. Perhaps,
it is not far away that someone will prove the existence of
differential equations of the surface current density on
conduction surfaces.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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766 (Nov. 1974).
2. B. Engquist and A. Majda, Absorbing boundary condition for
the numerical simulation of waves, Math. Comput. 31:629
651 (1977).
3. J. Fang, Time Domain Finite Difference Computation for
Maxwells Equations, Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. California,
Berkeley, CA, 1989.
4. J. P. Berenger, A perfectly matched layer for absorption of
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equation of invariancea new concept in eld computations,
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measured equation of invariance, IEEE Trans. Anten. Propag.
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5(11):417 (Nov. 1995).
10. T. L. Barkdoll and R. Lee, Finite element analysis of bodies of
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11. Y. L. Luo, K. M. Luk, K. K. Mei, and E. K. N. Yung, Finite
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2002).
12. R. Pous, Measured Equation of Invariancea New Concept in
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13. M. Prouty, Application of the Measured Equation of Invari-
ance to Planar Microstrip Structures, Ph.D. dissertation,
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Propag. 45(9) (Sept. 1997).
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absorbing boundary conditions, IEEE Trans. Anten. Propag.
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METHOD OF LINES
ALESSANDRO TOSCANO
LUCIO VEGNI
Roma Tre University
Rome, Italy
1. INTRODUCTION
Planar passive structures and planar transmission lines
are widely used in microwave and millimeter-wave inte-
grated circuits. Characterization and modeling of trans-
mission lines and their discontinuities are of great
importance in the development of integrated circuits. It
is not economical, or in many cases not even feasible, to
tune the circuits once they are fabricated. Therefore,
accurate methods are needed to model the structures.
Quasistatic methods, equivalent waveguide models,
and equivalent-circuit models have been used in the
modeling of microstrip or slotlines, and discontinuities in
the past [1,2]. A more rigorous approach, which takes into
account all the physical effects including radiation and
surface waves is the spectral-domain Galerkin method
(SDGM) [3]. This method transforms an integral equation
into a linear system of equations, where the solution (e.g.,
electric currents or elds) has to be computed numerically.
The method is known to be efcient but is restricted, in
2548 METHOD OF LINES
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