Cathodes in magnetrons: A review

Abstract Magnetron is currently one kind of the most widely used vacuum electronic devices. The cathode, as the electronic source of the device, is the core of magnetrons. With the development of magnetrons, the requirements for cathode performance are also increasing, including thermal electron emission and secondary electron emission performance. This article reviews the development history of cathodes used in magnetrons, discusses the performance and application fields of various cathodes, and the relationship between performance and structure. However, there are still certain problems with various cathode materials that make it difficult to truly cover all magnetrons. The ongoing challenges relating to the magnetron cathodes have been discussed in this paper.