The gigatron is a new RF amplifier tube designed for linac collider applications. Three design features permit extension of the lasertron concept to very high frequencies. First, a gated field-emitter array is employed for the modulated cathode. Second, a ribbon-beam geometry mitigates space-charge depression and facilitates efficient output coupling. Third, a traveling-wave output coupler is used to obtain optimum coupling to the ribbon beam. A prototype device is currently being developed. The paper describes several novel features of the gigatron and presents the results of beam transport and RF field calculations for a prototype device. 1989 IEEE
