RESEARCH ARTICLE | MARCH 01 2022

Particle-in-cell model of a relativistic magnetron system

driven by a pulse forming network Marx generator 
Kern Lee  ; Sunghoon Hong; Woosang Lee

J. Appl. Phys. 131, 094901 (2022)

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0085027

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 Journal of ARTICLE scitation.org/journal/jap
Applied Physics

Particle-in-cell model of a relativistic magnetron

system driven by a pulse forming network Marx
generator
Cite as: J. Appl. Phys. 131, 094901 (2022); doi: 10.1063/5.0085027
Submitted: 12 January 2022 · Accepted: 8 February 2022 · View Online Export Citation CrossMark
Published Online: 1 March 2022

Kern Lee,1,a) Sunghoon Hong,1,2 and Woosang Lee1

AFFILIATIONS
1
Agency for Defense Development, Yuseong P. O. Box 35, 34186 Daejeon, Republic of Korea
2
Department of Electrical Engineering, Hanyang University, 04763 Seoul, Republic of Korea

a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed : kernlee@outlook.kr

ABSTRACT
A three dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) model of a relativistic magnetron (RM) is established using CST Studio Suite. As we adopted a novel
technique to imitate pulse forming action of pulser, simulation domain is now fully extended to include a pulser, a transmission line, and a
magnetron tube. This feature enables the model to describe a dynamic power coupling process between the pulser and RM in a self-consistent

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manner. It is demonstrated that model accuracy is strongly dependent on user-defined parameters for an explosive electron emission model.
Particularly, emission rise time for space charge formation influences significantly on an initial mode competition phase. Compared to a
previous excitation method using a step voltage pulse, the new model gives more reliable results as the intrinsic impedance of the pulser
is now considered. Our model is able to estimate the major RM characteristics over a wide range of an external magnetic field. As a result
of dynamic power coupling, the RM impedance, the gap voltage, the excitation frequency, and the output power tend to increase at a
higher external magnetic field condition. It is suitable to adopt a proposed modeling technique for the virtual assemble and simulation of
the system. Hence, it will suggest a practical way to implement and verify complicated structures or innovative designs that could not be
solved by existing PIC codes.

Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0085027

I. INTRODUCTION
As a well-known source of a high power microwave (HPM), a
relativistic magnetron (RM) has been extensively studied in recent
years.1–6 In general, an RM system consists of a pulser, a vacuum
tube, an electro-magnet, and an output antenna. Even though
issues known as pulse shortening7–9 as well as a mode competition
problem10,11 still remain, working principles of an RM system are
very well established. In our case, we assembled a pulse-forming-
network (PFN) Marx generator, a gas-vacuum transmission line, a
magnetron tube, a pulsed electromagnet, and a pyramidal horn
antenna. Each part was tested independently on a component level
before integration. In practice, particle-in-cell (PIC) codes, such as
UNIPIC,12 VSim,13 and MAGIC,14 have been used to model and sim-
ulate the magnetron devices. From them, highly convincing results
were obtained on a component level3,10,11,15,16 but not for the system.
From a view-point of a pulser, the magnetron tube is consid-
ered a time-varying load whose impedance rapidly decreases.17,18
Since the pulser itself has an intrinsic impedance, their dynamic
matching through the transmission line becomes a highly nonlinear
problem. The dynamic power coupling issue was partly covered by
the lumped circuit model of RM,19 but equivalent circuit was not
able to describe the detailed conversion process of input electrical
energy into a microwave. Even in a sophisticated approach of Lin
et al.20 that coupled the three dimensional (3D) PIC simulation
with external circuit elements, the circuit was too simple to describe
the pulsed power driver.
In this article, we present the integrated model of an RM
system using a PIC solver of CST Studio Suite. The simulation
domain is extended to include full 3D features of pulser and trans-
mission line, as well as the RM. Our model considers the RM as a
transient load, and the entire discharge process is solved in a self-
consistent manner. The modeling technique for the RM system is
described in Sec. II. In Sec. III, we discuss how the model parame-
ters influence the RM characteristics in terms of the dynamic

J. Appl. Phys. 131, 094901 (2022); doi: 10.1063/5.0085027 131, 094901-1

Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing
 Journal of
Applied Physics
power coupling process. The capability and limitations of model
are also addressed. Conclusions are given in Sec. IV.
II. MODEL DESCRIPTION
Figure 1(a) shows the CST model of an existing RM system: a
PFN Marx generator, a transmission line, and a magnetron tube.
The PFN Marx generator has a stack of 16 PFN modules connected
by spark gap switches. It produces a flat-top pulse with an ampli-
tude of −400 kV and a full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of
∼100 ns to the matched load (
40 Ω). The transmission line pro-
vides a smooth transition of an outer diameter of chambers from a
FIG. 1. 3D features of (a) an RM system and (b) a PFN module modeled in CST and 2D snapshots of an electron distribution monitored on (c) XY and (d) YZ planes.
J. Appl. Phys. 131, 094901 (2022); doi: 10.1063/5.0085027
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pulser to a magnetron tube. A bi-conical diaphragm block
(poly-ether-ether-ketone, PEEK) separates a pressurized gas (sulfur
hexafluoride, SF6) region and a vacuum region while holding a
center stalk. Dimensions of Bekefi’s A6 magnetron21 are slightly
modified to mitigate the mode competition. It is tuned for a π
mode operation with a center frequency (f0 ) at 2.4 GHz. A cylindri-
cal solid cathode with a radius of 10 mm is used with a doorknob-
type endcap of 12 mm in radius, which is mounted on the down-
stream side. Area sources for explosive electron emission are
assigned on the surface of the cathode assembly. The axial mag-
netic field is produced by a pair of electromagnets, and the flux
density Bz is varied within 0.26–0.42 T in the interaction zone to
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131, 094901-2
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Applied Physics

meet the Buneman–Hartree condition.22,23 The aperture of a rec-

tangular waveguide (WR-430) is terminated by a waveguide port
(i.e., a perfect absorber); therefore, the output microwave power is
not allowed to reflect back. For diagnostics, a couple of monitors
for particle, voltage, current, and field probes are placed. Note that
our electromagnet works in a pulsed mode, whose half period is

2 μs. Since the magnetic field changes so slowly, it can be
assumed to be stationary during the RM in operation. We pre-
calculated the magnetic field profile using a magneto-static solver
and import it before initiating the PIC solver.
The PIC simulation for an RM system proceeds as follows. As
the PFN Marx generator is erected, the resulting HV pulse is trans-
mitted to the RM. As the local electric field (E-field) on the
cathode rises, the explosive electron emission is soon initiated
when the threshold E-field (Eth ) is exceeded. In the interaction
space, electron beams are tightly bound by an external magnetic
field. As depicted in Fig. 1(c), while the electrons rotate in an azi-
muthal direction forming spokes, they interact with slow waves
originated from the periodic structure of anode vanes. The wave–
particle interaction leads to the conversion of beam energy to
microwave energy. Some of microwave energy can be extracted via
a waveguide through the radial output port. The electron beams
also drift along the external magnetic field. Most of them are
blocked either by a cathode endcap or dome, as shown in Fig. 1(d).
For simulating the pulse forming action of a PFN Marx gener-
ator in a PIC simulation, there are two possible modeling schemes.
Figure 2 briefly shows them using equivalent circuits of a three-
stage type-E PFN Marx generator. As a conventional approach, the

11 June 2024 06:18:13

first scheme (scheme 1) requires charging the capacitors up to
V0 FIG. 2. Equivalent circuit layout of a type-E PFN Marx generator for (a) a con-
and then close switches simultaneously for the Marx erection.24 ventional discharge starting from an initially charged state (scheme 1) and (b)
Placing current sources in parallel with each capacitor, the charging driven by serial step voltage sources (scheme 2).
process can be easily realized. However, the charging voltage pulse
propagating through the capacitor–inductor (LC) networks shows
complicated behavior. Even if the charging is completed, additional
time for stabilization is required. That is, significant computing
power is consumed to achieve the uniformly charged state of capac-
itors. This situation appears because there is no way to solve a tran-
sient EM problem with an initially charged structure. To solve the
drawbacks of scheme 1, Ryu25 proposed an alternative approach
(scheme 2). This scheme is originally proposed to simulate the
pulse forming action of the Blumlein pulse forming line (PFL) and
validated experimentally.25 Discrete ports defined in CST are
placed across the switching gaps [Fig. 1(b)], and step voltage pulses
are launched through them. As this scheme skips the charging
sequence, the Marx erection starts from the very beginning of sim-
ulation. In scheme 2, the step voltage pulse with a positive polarity
is launched backward [i.e., from right to left in Fig. 2(b)], and then,
it will be reflected to a forward direction with a reversed polarity
(i.e., negative) as soon as it arrives at the end of the PFN module.
The pulse forming action ends when the reflected pulse arrives at
the switch gap. This process is analogous to what happens in the
discharging phase of scheme 1. The only difference is the initial
charged state (
V0 ).
The simulated output voltages based on schemes 1 and 2 are
compared in Fig. 3. For this analysis, we directly terminated the
FIG. 3. Comparison of output voltage waveforms of the PFN Marx generator
output of the 16-stage PFN Marx generator with a 34 Ω lumped
obtained from schemes 1 and 2.
resistor. Other components, such as the transmission line and the

J. Appl. Phys. 131, 094901 (2022); doi: 10.1063/5.0085027 131, 094901-3

Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing
 Journal of
Applied Physics
magnetron tube, were disabled. The simulation of scheme 1
required additional 500 ns for the initial charging sequence and sta-
bilization. Ideal closing switches representing the spark gaps are
turned on simultaneously. For scheme 2, the step voltage source of
+50 kV with 1 ns rise time is used. All the discrete ports are excited
by this voltage source simultaneously. In the plot, the simulation
result of scheme 1 is shifted in time to show the perfect match with
that of scheme 2. It is demonstrated that the basic idea of scheme 2
is not only successfully extended for the pulse forming action of
the PFN Marx generator, but also saves a large amount of comput-
ing time. It should be noted that the erection of the Marx generator
in our model does not consider both the sequential breakdown of
the spark gaps and the dynamic behavior of the arc channels. For
more realistic modeling, the spark gap model26 can be coupled, or
experimentally measured gap closure data can be applied to adjust
excitation timing.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Voltage and current waveforms obtained from the model are
shown in Fig. 4. To find the pre-parameters for the PIC simulation,
we used experimental data measured from a capacitive voltage
divider (CVD) and a B-dot sensor installed on the midpoint of the
transmission line. These sensors were in situ calibrated in the pre-
liminary experiment with discharges on a tubular carbon resistor.
The waveforms show a fair agreement over the entire discharge
period. In the measured voltage waveform, the initial spike whose
peak reaches up to −800 kV appears first, and the flat-top
(∼ − 400 kV) is followed. Note that this peak level corresponds to
the open-load voltage of a pulser (−50 kV × 16 stages). In the
model, the explosion emission of electrons at the cathode surface is
initiated in the midst of the voltage overshoot. That is, the
FIG. 4. Simulation results compared with measured data at Bz = 0.36 T : (a)
voltage and (b) current waveforms probed at the midpoint of the transmission
line.
J. Appl. Phys. 131, 094901 (2022); doi: 10.1063/5.0085027
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impedance formed between the anode–cathode gap (AK gap)
rapidly decreases to the order of
40Ω from this moment. During
the overshoot, the gap voltage shows complicated behavior due to
multiple wave reflections with a finite transit time along the trans-
mission line (ΔtTL
2 ns). Regarding that the RM impedance
tends to decay almost exponentially,17,18 a complete description of
the voltage spike requires properly defined pre-parameters of the
emission model. In particular, the model reproduces the measured
voltage spike with a very high E-field emission threshold
(Eth = 90 MV/m). It implies that the surface condition of the
cathode is so poor that the AK gap is acting like a peaking switch.
Hence, the voltage rise time (tr / L/R) is reduced from the case of
a lumped resistor load (Fig. 3). The data also show that the higher
the assumed Eth value, the higher the formed flat-top voltage. We
believe that the effective emission area is also reduced due to the
emission criterion based on the Eth value.
Meanwhile, we found that the current and voltage values for
the flat-top are quite insensitive to the emission model if Eth has
been defined within the 20–40 MV/m range. This is consistent with
the fact that the RM characteristics are determined by the gap
voltage, the external magnetic field, and the cavity structure. Since
the RM impedance itself is determined by the above parameters,
both the nonlinear power deposition and the transient behavior of
RM are well described by our model. Note that the present PIC
model only considers the electron; therefore, the issues related to
the plasma formed between the AK gap cannot be covered. The
simulation results should be understood as for an ideal system or at
least a well-manufactured one.
11 June 2024 06:18:13
Among the pre-parameters of the explosive emission model,
the emission rise time (τ er ) tends to influence the initial mode
competition much more than the threshold E-field strength (Eth ).
For Eth in a moderate range (e.g., 20–40 MV/m), the emission crite-
rion is quickly satisfied by the pulse front. In such cases, changing
the Eth value has a limited effect on the results; therefore, it is fixed
at 30 MV/m. In CST, the emission rise time (τ er ) is taken into
account by the expression
 2
t
f (t) ¼ 1
exp
2 : (1)
τ er
This function alleviates the numerical instability associated
with the space charge formation. Thus, the higher the τ er value, the
slower the buildup of space charge in the interaction space.
The simulation has been carried out for different τ er values, and
the results are shown in Fig. 5. Here, the axial magnetic field
(Bz = 0.36 T) and the Marx generator charging voltage
(V0 = −50 kV) are adjusted for a π-mode (f0 ∼ 2.4 GHz) operation.
On the left column, the electric fields (TE10 mode) at the center of
the output waveguide are plotted. We also presented their time-
frequency contour plots on the right side to show the mode compe-
tition feature. There appears an undesired mode with f0 ∼ 2.1 GHz
interfering the π-mode in the τ er ¼ 1 ns case. As the microwave
generation begins in the middle of voltage overshoot, the initial
mode competition is mainly originated from the fluctuation of the
AK gap voltage. In this context, the microwave field cannot
respond to a fast interaction of a pulser and RM when τ er is longer
131, 094901-4
 Journal of
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than the pulse transit time (ΔtTL
2 ns). Hence, there is no com-
peting mode for those cases. Meanwhile, except for the initial
mode competing pattern, the value of τ er has little effect on the
characteristics of the fully established microwave field (π-mode).
In the absence of experimental data, our analysis on the initial
mode competition is limited. Nevertheless, it still gives valuable
intuitions from the system point of view. For example, one can
shorten the length of the transmission line to reduce the pulse
transit time (ΔtTL ). This allows less fluctuating gap voltage and sup-
presses the mode competition.
In order to discuss the RM characteristics with respect to the
pulser modeling method, the RM is excited in a different way. As a
conventional excitation method, a step voltage pulse of −380 kV is
fed into the transmission line. The pulser has been removed from
the model, while other conditions remained the same. The rise
time is adjusted to 12 ns to fit the pulse front produced by the PFN
Marx generator. Figure 6 shows that driven by the step pulse, the
input current to RM rises more slowly and the microwave genera-
tion is also delayed. The rise of initial current is mainly limited by
the high input impedance of the transmission line (∼83 Ω). Moreover,
contrary to the case where the pulser is mounted, the open end of the
transmission line (i.e., the input side) could not be properly closed
with the element having a finite impedance. On the contrary, we
covered this boundary using the conducting wall. Hence, the wave will
be fully reflected with an opposite phase. We can conclude that the
intrinsic impedance of the pulser must be taken into account to
predict the RM characteristics on a system level. Otherwise, the
J. Appl. Phys. 131, 094901 (2022); doi: 10.1063/5.0085027
Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing
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FIG. 5. Simulation results for different
emission rise time (τ er ) : (a) and (b)
1 ns, (c) and (d) 3 ns, and (e) and (f )
5 ns. Electric fields (TE10 mode) at the
center of the output waveguide are on
the left side, and time-frequency
contour plots are on the right side.
(The colormap of the contour plot is
normalized with spectral intensity.)
11 June 2024 06:18:13
nonlinear power coupling process, especially for the early period,
cannot be properly described, and it is highly possible to underesti-
mate the overall RM performance. This critical issue becomes minor if
the PIC model contains the magnetron tube only. In this case, it is
still appropriate to excite the RM with a fast voltage pulse.
For a wide range of an external magnetic field
(Bz = 0.26-0.42 T), the characteristic parameters, such as the excita-
tion frequencies (f0 ), the average gap voltage (Ugap ), and the nor-
malized maximum output power (Pout ) can be summarized from
the simulation results, as shown in Fig. 7. For the first 20 ns, there
appears a competing mode at the frequency (f1 ); therefore, it is
marked with an opened circle. It should be addressed that our
model determines above parameters by solving the dynamic power
coupling along the RM system. Since we fixed the charging voltage
of Marx capacitors to −50 kV, this analysis is equivalent to a virtual
experiment. In principle, the electrons collected on the anode
surface decrease by the enhanced magnetic insulation at a higher
Bz condition. Accordingly, both the RM impedance and the load
voltage coupling coefficient [αL ffi ZRM /(ZMarx þ ZRM )] will increase
with respect to Bz . Our model leads to an ∼25% increase of gap
voltage by Bz raised from 0.26 to 0.42 T. At the same time, the
maximum output power rises almost 4.5 times. The main excitation
frequency (f0 ) is shifted up from 2.3 to 2.4 GHz gradually. As men-
tioned earlier, the initial competing mode that is caused by the
voltage fluctuation has a higher frequency than that of the main exci-
tation mode (f0  f1 ). The frequency resolution (Δf0 ) is limited to
0.1 GHz by the time window of simulation results.
131, 094901-5
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IV. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we presented the 3D PIC model for the inte-
grated RM system that consists of the PFN Marx generator, the
transmission line, and the magnetron tube. We also proposed the
novel technique to realize the pulse forming action of the PFN
Marx generator in the PIC model. The modeling domain is now
extended to the system level; thus, the RM system can be virtually
assembled and simulated in a self-consistent manner. The model
accuracy depends on the user-defined parameters, especially for the
description of a mode competition feature. Hence, the model cali-
bration will be carried out as a future work. Our model provides
convincing results more than that of the previous excitation
method using a step voltage pulse because the intrinsic impedance
of the pulser is now properly taken into account. We have con-
firmed that the model works for a wide range of an external mag-
netic field condition to determine the A-K gap voltage, the
excitation frequency, and the output power. Provided the model
calibration, it is expected that even the analysis on the initial mode
competition will become reliable. To date, we have modeled the
existing RM system to get some clues about our current issues. Our
modeling technique also provides a practical way to implement and
verify a complicated structure or an innovative design that could
not be solved by existing PIC codes.

AUTHOR DECLARATIONS
Conflict of Interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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DATA AVAILABILITY
FIG. 6. Simulation results of RM excited by the PFN Marx generator and a step The data that support the findings of this study are available
pulse: (a) AK gap voltage, (b) magnetron input current, and (c) electric field from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
(TE10 mode) at the center of the output waveguide.
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