Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Britcliffe, Mike.
A 7.19 GHz klystron producing 100 kW CW of output power over 90 MHz of bandwidth has been designed and three klystrons manufactured for use in a new JPL/NASA transmitter for spacecraft communications. The klystron was fully characterized including its phase pushing figures.
This paper describes the design and development of the low cost 6-meter breadboard antenna to be used as part of the interferometer.
A helium refrigerator utilizing the Gifford-McMahon/Joule-Thomson cycle was designed and tested to demonstrate the feasibility of using small closed-cycle refrigerators as an alternative to batch filled-cryostats for operating temperatures below 4 K. The systems could be used to cool low-noise microwave maser amplifiers located in large parabolic antennas. These antennas tilt vertically, making conventional liquid-filled dewars difficult to use. The system could also be used for a nontilting beam waveguide antenna to reduce the helium consumption of a liquid helium cryostat. The prototype system is adjustable to provide 700 milliwatts of cooling at 2.5 K to 3 watts at 4.3 K. The performance of the unit is not significantly affected by operation in any physical orientation.