In this space, visitors are invited to post any comments, questions, or skeptical observations about Philo T. Farnsworth's contributions to the field of Nuclear Fusion research.Subject: Re: Off subject: TWT (Travelling Wave Tube)
Date: Apr 17, 10:10 pm
Poster: Scott StephensOn Apr 17, 10:10 pm, Scott Stephens wrote:
>Does anybody have a clue?
>
>A TWT (also called a TWTA (A=Amplifier)
...
>How they work: An electron gun shoots a beam of electrons down the center of a (usually) helical delay line (or a series of tuned cavities, same effect, higher efficiency, lower bandwidth). .
This helical delay line looks like a spiral or helical antenna around the beam path?
How are Klystrons and Cerenkov masers different?
Isn't a gyrotron a relativistic klystron?
So aren't all these just more or less subtle differences of the same principles?
>electrons that get ahead get retarded slightly, electrons that get behind get accelerated. .
Unless its relativistic, in which case the electrons tend to wobble or gyrate on axis?
>No coherent effects here (i.e. it isn't a laser)
There may be some other wierd effects, like the Wakefield effect? Put RF into the helix and watch electrons get accelerated out the end? That turns the TWT into a charged particle gun.
Those longitudinal oscillations, if some theories of extended electrodynamics are correct, could result in electromagnetic soliton formation.
So maybe the B2's secret weapon is some type of maser that fires electromagnetic solitons, or 'photon torpedoes'?
Another possiblity of a secret weapon is a gamma-ray laser. Certain metastable nuclear isotopes can undergo stimulated gamma emssion (Mossbauer?). These are 100's of times more energetic than chemical explosives.
Usualy they need to be super-cooled to undergo stimulated emission, because the Q of the nuclie is so high. But I'll bet a laser-cooled plasma just might be the thing to make a gamma laser a reality. I can dig up some web sites if anyone is interested.
Scott