- Klystron
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/klis"tron, kluy"stron, -streuhn/, Trademark.a brand name for a vacuum tube containing an electron gun, a resonator that changes the velocity of the electron beam in accordance with a signal (buncher resonator), a drift tube in which the electron velocity does not change, another resonator that abstracts energy from the electron beam (catcher resonator), and an electrode that collects the electrons (collector electrode). It has several ultra-high-frequency applications. Cf. resonator (def. 4).
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thermionic electron tube that generates or amplifies microwaves (microwave) by controlling the speed of a stream of electrons. The electrons are originally accelerated to high velocity by a potential of several hundred volts and enter a narrow gap that forms part of a cavity resonator system (see figure—>), where they are acted upon by a radio-frequency field, which causes a bunching-up effect. Amplitude modulation of the electrons in their bunched-up state induces a strong signal as the stream passes through the gap of a second resonator. Klystrons are used in ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) circuits, such as UHF television transmission, and for microwave radar sources, where they can produce oscillations up to 400 gigahertz, in the short microwave range.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
