Summary form only given. Pasotrons (plasma assisted slow-waveoscillators) are plasma-filed microwave tubes recently developed atHughes Research Laboratory. Among unique features of these devices arethe use of plasma cathode electron guns and the use of a self-generatedplasma channel for providing the electron beam transport in the absenceof guiding external magnetic fields. In our paper we present thetheoretical studies of the effect of radial motion of electrons on thepasotron operation, the effect of ions on this motion and thecompetition of axial modes in pasotrons whose slow-wave structures havesignificant end reflections. (The latter increases the amplitude of thewave, and thus, allows one to shorten the interaction space.) The theorydeveloped describes a number of experimentally observed effects, forinstance, such as excitation of TE-waves (which is impossible inmicrowave tubes driven by linear electron beams) and “pulseshortening” during the voltage rise and fall times
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