Cavity magnetron

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"Magnetron" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Megatron, Metatron, or Magneton
(disambiguation).

Magnetron with section removed to exhibit the cavities. The cathode in the center is not visible. The waveguide
emitting microwaves is at the left. The magnet producing a field parallel to the long axis of the device is not
shown.

A similar magnetron with a different section removed. Central cathode is visible; antenna conducting
microwaves at the top; magnet is not shown.

Obsolete 9 GHz magnetron tube and magnets from a Soviet aircraft radar. The tube is embraced between the
poles of two horseshoe-shaped alnico magnets (top, bottom), which create a magnetic field along the axis of
the tube. The microwaves are emitted from the waveguide aperture (top) which in use is attached to a
 waveguide conducting the microwaves to the radar antenna. Modern tubes use rare earth magnets which are
much less bulky.

The cavity magnetron is a high-powered vacuum tube that generates microwaves using the
interaction of a stream of electrons with a magnetic field while moving past a series of open metal
cavities (cavity resonators). Electrons pass by the openings to these cavities and cause radio waves
to oscillate within, similar to the way a whistle produces a tone when excited by an air stream blown
past its opening. The frequency of the microwaves produced, the resonant frequency, is determined
by the cavities' physical dimensions. Unlike other vacuum tubes such as a klystron or a traveling-
wave tube (TWT), the magnetron cannot function as an amplifier in order to increase the intensity of
an applied microwave signal; the magnetron serves solely as an oscillator, generating a microwave
signal from direct current electricity supplied to the vacuum tube.
An early form of magnetron was invented by H. Gerdien in 1910.[1] Another form of magnetron tube,
the split-anode magnetron, was invented by Albert Hull of General Electric Research Laboratory in
1920, but it only achieved frequencies of 30 kHz.[2] Similar devices were experimented with by many
teams through the 1920s and 1930s. Hans Erich Hollmann filed a patent on a design similar to the
modern tube in 1935,[3] but the more stable klystron was preferred for most German
radars during World War II. An important advance was the multi-cavity magnetron, first proposed in
1934 by A.L. Samuel of Bell Telephone Laboratories. However, the first truly successful example
was developed by Aleksereff and Malearoff in Russia in 1936, which achieved 300 watts
at 3 GHz (10 cm wavelength).[2]
The cavity magnetron was radically improved by John Randall and Harry Boot in 1940 at
the University of Birmingham, England.[4] They invented a valve that could produce multi-
kilowatt pulses at 10 cm wavelength, an unprecedented discovery.[5] The high power of pulses from
their device made centimeter-band radar practical for the Allies of World War II, with shorter
wavelength radars allowing detection of smaller objects from smaller antennas. The compact cavity
magnetron tube drastically reduced the size of radar sets[6] so that they could be more easily
installed in night-fighter aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft[7] and escort ships.[6]
In the post-war era the magnetron became less widely used in the radar role. This was because the
magnetron's output changes from pulse to pulse, both in frequency and phase. This makes the
signal unsuitable for pulse-to-pulse comparisons, which is widely used for detecting and removing
"clutter" from the radar display.[8] The magnetron remains in use in some radars, but has become
much more common as a low-cost microwave source for microwave ovens. In this form,
approximately one billion magnetrons are in use today.[8][9]

Contents
[hide]

 1Construction and operation

o 1.1Conventional tube design
o 1.2Hull or single-anode magnetron
o 1.3Split-anode magnetron
o 1.4Cavity magnetron
 2Common features
 3Applications
o 3.1Radar
o 3.2Heating
o 3.3Lighting
 4History
 5Health hazards
 6See also
 7References
 8External links

Construction and operation[edit]

Conventional tube design[edit]
In a conventional electron tube (vacuum tube), electrons are emitted from a negatively charged,
heated component called the cathode and are attracted to a positively charged component called
the anode. The components are normally arranged concentrically, placed within a tubular-shaped
container from which all air has been evacuated, so that the electrons can move freely (hence the
name "vacuum" tubes, called "valves" by the British)
If a third electrode is inserted between the cathode and the anode (called a control grid), the flow of
electrons between the cathode and anode can be regulated by varying the electric charge on this
third electrode. This allows the resulting electron tube (called a "triode" because it now has three
electrodes) to function as an amplifier because small variations in the electric charge applied to the
control grid will result in identical variations in the much larger current of electrons flowing between
the cathode and anode.[10]
Hull or single-anode magnetron[edit]
The idea of using a grid for control was patented by Lee de Forest, resulting in considerable
research into alternate tube designs that would avoid his patents. One concept used a magnetic field
instead of an electrical charge to control current flow, leading to the development of the magnetron
tube. In this design, the tube was made with two electrodes, typically with the cathode in the form of
a metal rod in the center, and the anode as a cylinder around it. The tube was placed between the
poles of a horseshoe magnet[11] arranged such that the magnetic field was aligned parallel to the axis
of the electrodes.
With no magnetic field present, the tube operates as a diode, with electrons flowing directly from the
cathode to the anode. In the presence of the magnetic field, the electrons will experience a force at
right angles to their direction of motion, according to the left-hand rule. In this case, the electrons
follow a curved path between the cathode and anode. The curvature of the path can be controlled by
varying either the magnetic field, using an electromagnet, or by changing the electrical potential
between the electrodes.
At very high magnetic field settings the electrons are forced back onto the cathode, preventing
current flow. At the opposite extreme, with no field, the electrons are free to flow straight from the
cathode to the anode. There is a point between the two extremes, the critical value or Hull cut-off
magnetic field (and cut-off voltage), where the electrons just reach the anode. At fields around this
point, the device operates similar to a triode. However, magnetic control, due to hysteresis and other
effects, results in a slower and less faithful response to control current than electrostatic control
using a control grid in a conventional triode (not to mention greater weight and complexity), so
magnetrons saw limited use in conventional electronic designs.[11]
It was noticed that when the magnetron was operating at the critical value, it would emit energy in
the radio frequency spectrum.[11] This occurs because a few of the electrons, instead of reaching the
anode, continue to circle in the space between the cathode and the anode. Due to an effect now
known as cyclotron radiation, these electrons radiate radio frequency energy. The effect is not very
efficient. Eventually the electrons hit one of the electrodes, so the number in the circulating state at
any given time is a small percentage of the overall current. It was also noticed that the frequency of
the radiation depends on the size of the tube, and even early examples were built that produced
signals in the microwave region.
Early conventional tube systems were limited to the high frequency bands, and although very high
frequency systems became widely available in the late 1930s, the ultra high frequency and
microwave regions were well beyond the ability of conventional circuits. The magnetron was one of
the few devices able to generate signals in the microwave band and it was the only one that was
able to produce high power at centimeter wavelengths.
Split-anode magnetron[edit]

Split-anode magnetron from 1935. (left) The bare tube, about 11 cm high. (right) Installed for use between the
poles of a strong permanent magnet

The original magnetron was very difficult to keep operating at the critical value, and even then the
number of electrons in the circling state at any time was fairly low. This meant that it produced very
low-power signals. Nevertheless, as one of the few devices known to create microwaves, interest in
the device and potential improvements was widespread.
The first major improvement was the split-anode magnetron, also known as a negative-resistance
magnetron. As the name implies, this design used an anode that was split in two — one at each
end of the tube — creating two half-cylinders. When both were charged to the same voltage the
system worked like the original model. But by slightly altering the voltage of the two plates, the
electron's trajectory could be modified so that they would naturally travel towards the lower voltage
side. The plates were connected to an oscillator that reversed the relative voltage of the two plates
at a given frequency.[11]
At any given instant, the electron will naturally be pushed towards the lower-voltage side of the tube.
The electron will then oscillate back and forth as the voltage changes. At the same time, a strong
magnetic field is applied, stronger than the critical value in the original design. This would normally
cause the electron to circle back to the cathode, but due to the oscillating electrical field, the electron
instead follows a looping path that continues toward the anodes.[11]
Since all of the electrons in the flow experienced this looping motion, the amount of RF energy being
radiated was greatly improved. And as the motion occurred at any field level beyond the critical
value, it was no longer necessary to carefully tune the fields and voltages, and the overall stability of
the device was greatly improved. Unfortunately, the higher field also meant that electrons often
circled back to the cathode, depositing their energy on it and causing it to heat up. As this normally
causes more electrons to be released, it could sometimes lead to a runaway effect, damaging the
device.[11]
Cavity magnetron[edit]
The great advance in magnetron design was the resonant cavity magnetron or electron-
resonance magnetron, which works on entirely different principles. In this design the oscillation is
created by the physical shaping of the anode, rather than external circuits or fields.

A cross-sectional diagram of a resonant cavity magnetron. Magnetic lines of force are parallel to the geometric
axis of this structure.

Mechanically, the cavity magnetron consists of a large, solid cylinder of metal with a hole drilled
through the center of the circular face. A wire acting as the cathode is run down the center of this
hole, and the metal block itself forms the anode. Around this hole, known as the "interaction space",
are a number of similar holes ("resonators") drilled parallel to the interaction space, separated only a
very short distance away. A small slot is cut between the interaction space and each of these
resonators. The resulting block looks something like the cylinder on a revolver, with a somewhat
larger central hole. (Early models were actually cut using Colt pistol jigs.) The parallel sides of the
slots act as a capacitor while the anode block itself provides an inductor analog. Thus, each cavity
forms its own resonant circuit, the frequency of which is defined by the energy of the electrons and
the physical dimensions of the cavity.[11]
The magnetic field is set to a value well below the critical, so the electrons follow arcing paths
towards the anode. When they strike the anode, they cause it to become negatively charged in that
region. As this process is random, some areas will become more or less charged than the areas
around them. The anode is constructed of a highly conductive material, almost always copper, so
these differences in voltage cause currents to appear to even them out. Since the current has to flow
around the outside of the cavity, this process takes time. During that time additional electrons will
avoid the hot spots and be deposited further along the anode, as the additional current flowing
around it arrives too. This causes an oscillating current to form as the current tries to equalize one
spot, then another.[12]
The oscillating currents flowing around the cavities, and their effect on the electron flow within the
tube, causes large amounts of microwave radiofrequency energy to be generated in the cavities.
The cavities are open on one end, so the entire mechanism forms a single, larger, microwave
oscillator. A "tap", normally a wire formed into a loop, extracts microwave energy from one of the
cavities. In some systems the tap wire is replaced by an open hole, which allows the microwaves to
flow into a waveguide.
As the oscillation takes some time to set up, and is inherently random at the start, subsequent
startups will have different output parameters. Phase is almost never preserved, which makes the
magnetron difficult to use in phased array systems. Frequency also drifts from pulse to pulse, a more
difficult problem for a wider array of radar systems. Neither of these present a problem
for continuous-wave radars, nor for microwave ovens.

Common features[edit]
Cutaway drawing of a cavity magnetron from 1984. Part of the righthand magnet and copper anode block is cut
away to show the cathode and cavities. This older magnetron uses two horseshoe shaped alnico magnets,
modern tubes use rare earth magnets.

All cavity magnetrons consist of a heated cathode placed at a high (continuous or pulsed) negative
potential created by a high-voltage, direct-current power supply. The cathode is placed in the center
of an evacuated, lobed, circular chamber. A magnetic field parallel to the filament is imposed by
a permanent magnet. The magnetic field causes the electrons, attracted to the (relatively) positive
outer part of the chamber, to spiral outward in a circular path, a consequence of the Lorentz force.
Spaced around the rim of the chamber are cylindrical cavities. Slots are cut along the length of the
cavities that open into the central, common cavity space. As electrons sweep past these slots, they
induce a high-frequency radio field in each resonant cavity, which in turn causes the electrons to
bunch into groups. (This principle of cavity resonator is very similar to blowing a stream of air across
the open top of a glass pop bottle.) A portion of the radio frequency energy is extracted by a short
antenna that is connected to a waveguide (a metal tube, usually of rectangular cross section). The
waveguide directs the extracted RF energy to the load, which may be a cooking chamber in a
microwave oven or a high-gain antenna in the case of radar.
The sizes of the cavities determine the resonant frequency, and thereby the frequency of the emitted
microwaves. However, the frequency is not precisely controllable. The operating frequency varies
with changes in load impedance, with changes in the supply current, and with the temperature of the
tube.[13] This is not a problem in uses such as heating, or in some forms of radar where the receiver
can be synchronized with an imprecise magnetron frequency. Where precise frequencies are
needed, other devices, such as the klystron are used.
The magnetron is a self-oscillating device requiring no external elements other than a power supply.
A well-defined threshold anode voltage must be applied before oscillation will build up; this voltage is
a function of the dimensions of the resonant cavity, and the applied magnetic field. In pulsed
applications there is a delay of several cycles before the oscillator achieves full peak power, and the
build-up of anode voltage must be coordinated with the build-up of oscillator output.[13]
Where there are an even number of cavities, two concentric rings can connect alternate cavity walls
to prevent inefficient modes of oscillation. This is called pi-strapping because the two straps lock the
phase difference between adjacent cavities at pi radians (180°).
The modern magnetron is a fairly efficient device. In a microwave oven, for instance, a 1.1-kilowatt
input will generally create about 700 watts of microwave power, an efficiency of around 65%. (The
high-voltage and the properties of the cathode determine the power of a magnetron.) Large S
band magnetrons can produce up to 2.5 megawatts peak power with an average power of
3.75 kW.[13] Some large magnetrons are water cooled. The magnetron remains in widespread use in
roles which require high power, but where precise control over frequency and phase is unimportant.

Applications[edit]
Radar[edit]

9.375 GHz 20 kW (peak) magnetron assembly for an early commercial airport radar in 1947. In addition to the
magnetron (right), it contains a TR (transmit/receive) switch tube and the superheterodynereceiver front end, a
2K25 reflex klystron tube local oscillator and a 1N21 germanium diode mixer. The waveguide aperture (left) is
connected to the waveguide going to the antenna.

Main article: History of radar (Centimetric radar)

In a radar set, the magnetron's waveguide is connected to an antenna. The magnetron is operated
with very short pulses of applied voltage, resulting in a short pulse of high power microwave energy
being radiated. As in all primary radar systems, the radiation reflected off a target is analyzed to
produce a radar map on a screen.
Several characteristics of the magnetron's output make radar use of the device somewhat
problematic. The first of these factors is the magnetron's inherent instability in its transmitter
frequency. This instability results not only in frequency shifts from one pulse to the next, but also a
frequency shift within an individual transmitted pulse. The second factor is that the energy of the
transmitted pulse is spread over a relatively wide frequency spectrum, which requires the receiver to
have a correspondingly wide bandwidth. This wide bandwidth allows ambient electrical noise to be
accepted into the receiver, thus obscuring somewhat the weak radar echoes, thereby reducing
overall receiver signal-to-noise ratio and thus performance. The third factor, depending on
application, is the radiation hazard caused by the use of high power electromagnetic radiation. In
some applications, for example a marine radar mounted on a recreational vessel, a radar with a
magnetron output of 2 to 4 kilowatts is often found mounted very near an area occupied by crew or
passengers. In practical use these factors have been overcome, or merely accepted, and there are
today thousands of magnetron aviation and marine radar units in service. Recent advances in
aviation weather avoidance radar and in marine radar have successfully replaced the magnetron
with semiconductor microwave oscillators, which have a narrower output frequency range. These
allow a narrower receiver bandwidth to be used, and the higher signal to noise ratio in turn allows a
lower transmitter power, reducing exposure to EMR.
Heating[edit]

Magnetron from a microwave ovenwith magnet in its mounting box. The horizontal plates form a heat sink,
cooled by airflow from a fan. The magnetic field is produced by two powerful ring magnets, the lower of which is
just visible. Almost all modern oven magnetrons are of similar layout and appearance.

In microwave ovens, the waveguide leads to a radio frequency-transparent port into the cooking
chamber. As the fixed dimensions of the chamber, and its physical closeness to the magnetron,
would normally create standing wave patterns in the chamber, a motorized fan-like stirrer is placed
in the waveguide to randomize the pattern. This is not always effective for larger objects in the
chamber, and most modern microwave ovens also include a rotating table for the food to sit on,
called a turntable.
Lighting[edit]
In microwave-excited lighting systems, such as a sulfur lamp, a magnetron provides the microwave
field that is passed through a waveguide to the lighting cavity containing the light-emitting substance
(e.g., sulfur, metal halides, etc.). Although efficient, these lamps are much more complex than other
methods of lighting and therefore not commonly used. More modern variants use HEMTs or GaN-
on-SiC power semiconductors to generate the microwaves, which are substantially less complex and
can be adjusted to maximize light output using a PID system.

History[edit]
In 1910 Hans Gerdien of the Siemens corporation invented a magnetron.[14][15] In 1912, Swiss
physicist Heinrich Greinacher was looking for new ways to calculate the electron mass. He settled
on a system consisting of a diode with a cylindrical anode surrounding a rod-shaped cathode, placed
in the middle of a magnet. The attempt to measure the electron mass failed because he was unable
to achieve a good vacuum in the tube. However, as part of this work, Greinacher developed
mathematical models of the motion of the electrons in the crossed magnetic and electric fields.[16][17]
In the US, Albert Hull put this work to use in an attempt to bypass Western Electric's patents on the
triode. Western Electric had gained control of this design by buying Lee De Forest's patents on the
control of current flow using electric fields via the "grid". Hull intended to use a variable magnetic
field, instead of an electrostatic one, to control the flow of the electrons from the cathode to the
anode. Working at General Electric's Research Laboratories in Schenectady, New York, Hull built
tubes that provided switching through the control of the ratio of the magnetic and electric field
strengths. He released several papers and patents on the concept in 1921.[18]
Hull's magnetron was not originally intended to generate VHF (very-high-frequency) electromagnetic
waves. However, in 1924, Czech physicist August Žáček[19] (1886–1961) and German physicist Erich
Habann[20] (1892–1968) independently discovered that the magnetron could generate waves of 100
megahertz to 1 gigahertz. Žáček, a professor at Prague's Charles University, published first;
however, he published in a journal with a small circulation and thus attracted little
attention.[21] Habann, a student at the University of Jena, investigated the magnetron for his doctoral
dissertation of 1924.[22] Throughout the 1920s, Hull and other researchers around the world worked
to develop the magnetron.[23][24][25]Most of these early magnetrons were glass vacuum tubes with
multiple anodes. However, the two-pole magnetron, also known as a split-anode magnetron, had
relatively low efficiency.
While radar was being developed during World War II, there arose an urgent need for a high-
power microwave generator that worked at shorterwavelengths, around 10 cm (3 GHz), rather than
the 50 to 150 cm (200 MHz) that was available from tube-based generators of the time. It was known
that a multi-cavity resonant magnetron had been developed and patented in 1935 by Hans
Hollmann in Berlin.[3] However, the German military considered the frequency drift of Hollman's
device to be undesirable, and based their radar systems on the klystron instead. But klystrons could
not at that time achieve the high power output that magnetrons eventually reached. This was one
reason that German night fighter radars — which never strayed beyond the low-UHF band to start
with for front-line aircraft — were not a match for their British counterparts.[23]:229 Likewise, in the
UK, Albert Beaumont Wooddetailed a system with "six or eight small holes" drilled in a metal block,
identical to later production designs. However, his ideal was rejected by the Navy, who said their
valve department was far too busy to consider it.[26]

Sir John Randall and Harry Boot's original cavity magnetron developed in 1940 at the University of
Birmingham, England

The electromagnet used in conjunction with Randall and Boot's original magnetron
The anode block which is part of the cavity magnetron developed by Randall and Boot

In 1940, at the University of Birmingham in the UK, John Randall and Harry Boot produced a
working prototype of a cavity magnetron that produced about 400 W.[5] Within a week this had
improved to 1 kW, and within the next few months, with the addition of water cooling and many detail
changes, this had improved to 10 and then 25 kW.[5] To deal with its drifting frequency, they sampled
the output signal and synchronized their receiver to whatever frequency was actually being
generated. In 1941, the problem of frequency instability was solved by James Sayers coupling
("strapping") alternate cavities within the magnetron which reduced the instability by a factor of 5-
6.[27] (For an overview of early magnetron designs, including that of Boot and Randall, see [28])
According to Andy Manning from the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum, Randall and Boot's discovery
was "a massive, massive breakthrough" and "deemed by many, even now, to be the most important
invention that came out of the Second World War", while professor of military history at
the University of Victoria in British Columbia, David Zimmerman, states:
The magnetron remains the essential radio tube for shortwave radio signals of all types. It not only
changed the course of the war by allowing us to develop airborne radar systems, it remains the key
piece of technology that lies at the heart of your microwave oven today. The cavity magnetron's
invention changed the world.[5]
Because France had just fallen to the Nazis and Britain had no money to develop the magnetron on
a massive scale, Winston Churchillagreed that Sir Henry Tizard should offer the magnetron to the
Americans in exchange for their financial and industrial help.[5] An early 10 kWversion, built in
England by the General Electric Company Research Laboratories, Wembley, London (not to be
confused with the similarly named American company General Electric), was taken on the Tizard
Mission in September 1940. As the discussion turned to radar, the US Navy representatives began
to detail the problems with their short-wavelength systems, complaining that their klystrons could
only produce 10 W. With a flourish, "Taffey" Bowen pulled out a magnetron and explained it
produced 1000 times that.[5][29]
Bell Telephone Laboratories took the example and quickly began making copies, and before the end
of 1940, the Radiation Laboratory had been set up on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology to develop various types of radar using the magnetron. By early 1941, portable
centimetric airborne radars were being tested in American and British aircraft.[5] In late 1941,
the Telecommunications Research Establishment in Great Britain used the magnetron to develop a
revolutionary airborne, ground-mapping radar codenamed H2S. The H2S radar was in part
developed by Alan Blumlein and Bernard Lovell.
The cavity magnetron was widely used during World War II in microwave radar equipment and is
often credited with giving Allied radar a considerable performance advantage
over German and Japanese radars, thus directly influencing the outcome of the war. It was later
described by American historian James Phinney Baxter III as "[t]he most valuable cargo ever
brought to our shores".[30]
Centimetric radar, made possible by the cavity magnetron, allowed for the detection of much smaller
objects and the use of much smaller antennas. The combination of small-cavity magnetrons, small
antennas, and high resolution allowed small, high quality radars to be installed in aircraft. They could
be used by maritime patrol aircraft to detect objects as small as a submarine periscope, which
allowed aircraft to attack and destroy submerged submarines which had previously been
undetectable from the air. Centimetric contour mapping radars like H2Simproved the accuracy of
Allied bombers used in the strategic bombing campaign, despite the existence of the German FuG
350 Naxosdevice to specifically detect it. Centimetric gun-laying radars were likewise far more
accurate than the older technology. They made the big-gunned Allied battleships more deadly and,
along with the newly developed proximity fuze, made anti-aircraft guns much more dangerous to
attacking aircraft. The two coupled together and used by anti-aircraft batteries, placed along the
flight path of German V-1 flying bombs on their way to London, are credited with destroying many of
the flying bombs before they reached their target.
Since then, many millions of cavity magnetrons have been manufactured; while some have been for
radar the vast majority have been for microwave ovens. The use in radar itself has dwindled to some
extent, as more accurate signals have generally been needed and developers have moved
to klystron and traveling-wave tube systems for these needs.

Health hazards[edit]

Caution: radiowaves hazard

Caution: Poisonous particles for the lungs

At least one hazard in particular is well known and documented. As the lens of the eye has no
cooling blood flow, it is particularly prone to overheating when exposed to microwave radiation. This
heating can in turn lead to a higher incidence of cataracts in later life.[31] A microwave oven with a
warped door or poor microwave sealing can be hazardous.
There is also a considerable electrical hazard around magnetrons, as they require a high voltage
power supply.
Some magnetrons have beryllium oxide (beryllia) ceramic insulators, which are dangerous if crushed
and inhaled, or otherwise ingested. Single or chronic exposure can lead to berylliosis, an incurable
lung condition. In addition, beryllia is listed as a confirmed human carcinogen by the IARC; therefore,
broken ceramic insulators or magnetrons should not be directly handled.
All magnetrons contain a small amount of thorium mixed with tungsten in their filament. While this is
a radioactive metal, the risk of cancer is low as it never gets airborne in normal usage. Only if the
filament is taken out of the magnetron, finely crushed, and inhaled can it pose a health hazard.[32][33][34]

See also[edit]
 Crossed-field amplifier
 Yoji Ito, a Japanese military electronics expert who helped create Japan's first cavity magnetron
devices as early as 1939.[35]
 Klystron
 Maser
 Microwave EMP Rifle
 Radiation Laboratory
 Traveling-wave tube

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German). 14: 856–864.
17. Jump up^ Wolff, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Christian. "Radar Basics". www.radartutorial.eu. Archived from the
original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
18. Jump up^ See:
 Hull, Albert W. (1921). "The effect of a uniform magnetic field on the motion of electrons between
coaxial cylinders". Physical Review. 18 (1): 31–57.
 Hull, Albert W. (September 1921). "The magnetron". Journal of the American Institute of Electrical
Engineers. 40 (9): 715–723.
19. Jump up^ Biographical information about August Žáček:
 Fürth, R. H. (1962). "Prof. August Žáček". Nature. 193 (4816): 625.
 (Anon.) (1956). "The 70th birthday of Prof. Dr. August Žáček". Czechoslovak Journal of
Physics. 6 (2): 204–205. Available on-line at: Metapress.com Archived 2012-03-12 at
the Wayback Machine..
20. Jump up^ Biographical information about Erich Habann:
 Günter Nagel, "Pionier der Funktechnik. Das Lebenswerk des Wissenschaftlers Erich Habann,
der in Hessenwinkel lebte, ist heute fast vergessen" (Pioneer in Radio Technology. The life's
work of scientist Erich Habann, who lived in Hessenwinkel, is nearly forgotten
today.), Bradenburger Blätter (supplement of the Märkische Oderzeitung, a daily newspaper of
the city of Frankfurt in the state of Brandenburg, Germany), 15 December 2006, page 9.
 Karlsch, Rainer; Petermann, Heiko, eds. (2007). Für und Wider "Hitlers Bombe": Studien zur
Atomforschung in Deutschland [For and Against "Hitler's Bomb": Studies on atomic research in
Germany] (in German). New York, New York, USA: Waxmann Publishing Co. p. 251 footnote.
21. Jump up^ See:
 Žáček, A. (May 1924). "Nová metoda k vytvorení netlumenych oscilací" [New method of
generating undamped oscillations]. Časopis pro pěstování matematiky a fysiky [Journal for the
Cultivation of Mathematics and Physics] (in Czech). 53: 378–380. Available (in Czech) at: Czech
Digital Mathematics Library Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine..
 Žáček, A. (1928). "Über eine Methode zur Erzeugung von sehr kurzen elektromagnetischen
Wellen" [On a method for generating very short electromagnetic waves]. Zeitschrift für
Hochfrequenztechnik (in German). 32: 172–180.
 Žáček, A., "Spojení pro výrobu elektrických vln" [Circuit for the production of electrical waves],
Czechoslovak patent no. 20,293 (filed: 31 May 1924; issued: 15 February 1926). Available (in
Czech) at: Czech Industrial Property Office Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine..
22. Jump up^ Habann, Erich (1924). "Eine neue Generatorröhre" [A new generator tube]. Zeitschrift für
Hochfrequenztechnik (in German). 24: 115–120 and 135–141.
23. ^ Jump up to:a b Kaiser, W. (1994). "The Development of Electron Tubes and of Radar technology:
The Relationship of Science and Technology". In Blumtritt, O.; Petzold, H.; Aspray, W. Tracking the
History of Radar. Piscataway, NJ, USA: IEEE. pp. 217–236.
24. Jump up^ Brittain, James E. (1985). "The magnetron and the beginnings of the microwave
age". Physics Today. 38: 60–67.
25. Jump up^ See for example:
 Soviet physicists:
 Slutskin, Abram A.; Shteinberg, Dmitry S. (1926). "[Obtaining oscillations in cathode tubes with the
aid of a magnetic field]". Журнал Русского Физико-Химического Общества [Zhurnal Russkogo
 Fiziko-Khimicheskogo Obshchestva, Journal of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society] (in
Russian). 58 (2): 395–407.
 Slutskin, Abram A.; Shteinberg, Dmitry S. (1927). "[Electronic oscillations in two-electrode
tubes]". Український фізичний журнал [Ukrainski Fizychni Zapysky, Ukrainian Journal of
Physics] (in Ukrainian). 1 (2): 22–27.
 Slutzkin, A. A.; Steinberg, D. S. (May 1929). "Die Erzeugung von kurzwelligen ungedämpften
Schwingungen bei Anwendung des Magnetfeldes" [The generation of undamped shortwave
oscillations by application of a magnetic field]. Annalen der Physik (in German). 393 (5): 658–670.
 Japanese engineers:
 Yagi, Hidetsugu (1928). "Beam transmission of ultra-short waves". Proceedings of the Institute of
Radio Engineers. 16 (6): 715–741. Magnetrons are discussed in Part II of this article.
 Okabe, Kinjiro (March 1928). "[Production of intense extra-short radio waves by a split-anode
magnetron (Part 3)]". Journal of the Institute of Electrical Engineering of Japan (in Japanese):
284ff.
 Okabe, Kinjiro (1929). "On the short-wave limit of magnetron oscillations". Proceedings of the
Institute of Radio Engineers. 17 (4): 652–659.
 Okabe, Kinjiro (1930). "On the magnetron oscillation of new type". Proceedings of the Institute of
Radio Engineers. 18 (10): 1748–1749.
26. Jump up^ Kingsley, F.A. (2016). The Development of Radar Equipments for the Royal Navy, 1935–
45. Archived from the original on 2018-05-05.
27. Jump up^ Barrett, Dick. "M.J.B.Scanlan; Early Centimetric Ground Radars - A Personal
Reminiscence". www.radarpages.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5
May 2018.
28. Jump up^ Willshaw, W. E.; L. Rushforth; A. G. Stainsby; R. Latham; A. W. Balls; A. H. King
(1946). "The high-power pulsed magnetron: development and design for radar applications". The
Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers - Part IIIA: Radiolocation. 93 (5): 985–
1005. doi:10.1049/ji-3a-1.1946.0188. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
29. Jump up^ Harford, Tim (9 October 2017). "How the search for a 'death ray' led to radar". BBC World
Service. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017. The magnetron
stunned the Americans. Their research was years off the pace.
30. Jump up^ Baxter, James Phinney (III) (1946). Scientists Against Time. Boston, Massachusetts, USA:
Little, Brown, and Co. p. 142. (Baxter was the official historian of the Office of Scientific Research and
Development.)
31. Jump up^ Lipman, R. M.; B. J. Tripathi; R. C. Tripathi (1988). "Cataracts induced by microwave and
ionizing radiation". Survey of Ophthalmology. 33 (3): 200–210. doi:10.1016/0039-6257(88)90088-
4. OSTI 6071133. PMID 3068822.
32. Jump up^ 3111, corporateName=Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation;
address=New Illawarra Road, Lucas Heights NSW 2234 Australia; contact=+61 2 9717. "In the home
- ANSTO". www.ansto.gov.au. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 5
May 2018.
33. Jump up^ "EngineerGuy Video: microwave oven". www.engineerguy.com. Archived from the original
on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
34. Jump up^ EPA,OAR,ORIA,RPD, US. "Radiation Protection - US EPA". US EPA. Archived from the
original on 1 October 2006. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
35. Jump up^ Jr. Raymond C. Watson (25 November 2009). Radar Origins Worldwide: History of Its
Evolution in 13 Nations Through World War II. Trafford Publishing. pp. 315–. ISBN 978-1-4269-2110-
0. Retrieved 24 June 2011.

External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related
to Magnetrons.
 Information

 Magnetrons
 Magnetron collection in the Virtual Valve Museum
 MicrowaveCam.com Videos of plasmoids created in a microwave oven
 TMD Magnetrons Information and PDF Data Sheets
 (Title is somewhat cryptic) Concise, notably-excellent article about magnetrons; Fig. 13 is
representative of a modern radar magnetron.
Patents

 US 2123728 Hans Erich Hollmann/Telefunken GmbH: „Magnetron“ filed November 27, 1935
 US 2315313 Buchholz, H. (1943). Cavity resonator
 US 2357313 Carter, P.S. (1944). High frequency resonator and circuit therefor
 US 2357314 Carter, P.S. (1944). Cavity resonator circuit
 US 2408236 Spencer, P.L. (1946). Magnetron casing
 US 2444152 Carter, P.S. (1948). Cavity resonator circuit
 US 2611094 Rex, H.B. (1952). Inductance-capacitance resonance circuit
 GB 879677 Dexter, S.A. (1959). Valve oscillator circuits; radio frequency output couplings

hide

Electronic components

Avalanche diode

Transistor

Tetrode transistor

Pentode transistor

Memistor

Memristor

Bipolar junction transistor (BJT)

FinFET

CMOS

MOSFET

JFET

Field-effect transistor (FET)

Quantum circuit

Constant-current diode (CLD, CRD)

Darlington transistor
DIAC
Diode

Heterostructure barrier varactor

nsulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)

ntegrated circuit (IC)

Light-emitting diode (LED)

Photodetector

Photodiode

PIN diode

Programmable unijunction transistor(PUT)

Schottky diode

Silicon controlled rectifier (SCR)

Thyristor

TRIAC

Unijunction transistor (UJT)

Varicap

Zener diode

Linear regulator

Low-dropout regulator

Switching regulator

Buck

Boost

Buck–boost

Split-pi

Ćuk

SEPIC

Charge pump

Switched capacitor

Acorn tube

Audion

Beam tetrode

Barretter

Compactron

Diode
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Nonode

Nuvistor

Pentagrid (Hexode, Heptode, Octode)

Pentode

Photomultiplier

Phototube

Tetrode

Triode

Backward-wave oscillator (BWO)

Cavity magnetron

Crossed-field amplifier (CFA)

Gyrotron

nductive output tube (IOT)

Klystron

Maser

Sutton tube

Traveling-wave tube (TWT)

Beam deflection tube

Charactron

conoscope

Magic eye tube

Monoscope

Selectron tube

Storage tube

Trochotron

Video camera tube

Williams tube

Cold cathode

Crossatron

Dekatron

gnitron

Krytron
Mercury-arc valve

Neon lamp
Nixie tube

Thyratron

Trigatron

Voltage-regulator tube

Potentiometer

digital

Variable capacitor

Varicap

Connector

audio and video

electrical power

RF

Electrolytic detector

Ferrite

Fuse

resettable

Resistor

Switch

Thermistor

Transformer

Varistor

Wire

Wollaston wire

Capacitor

types

Ceramic resonator

Crystal oscillator
nductor
Parametron

Relay

reed relay

mercury switch

37035-5

574637

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