Patent ID: 7551042

Claim:
A microwave pulse compressor having an operating frequency comprising an elongated waveguide resonator having waveguide guide walls and opposed shorting end walls wherein the distance between said shorting end walls defines the length of the resonator, and wherein the length of said resonator is chosen based on the following criteria: a. a length that produces the output pulse length desired, b. a length that produces a resonant condition for the fundamental mode at the operating frequency of the pulse compressor, and c. a length that does not produce a resonant condition for higher order modes at the operating frequency of the pulse compressor, said waveguide resonator being oversized in that the cross-sectional dimensions thereof are larger than required to propagate the fundamental mode only, an input for coupling microwave pulse power into said oversized waveguide resonator, at least one fast-action shorting switch positioned in front of at least one of the shorting end walls and defining a switch-out end of said waveguide resonator, wherein activation of said switch shifts the maximum electric and magnetic fields of the fundamental mode within the resonator waveguide, and two output transmission lines coupled to opposite guide walls of said oversized waveguide resonator so as to couple to a shifted field in the waveguide resonator and so as to provide symmetrical coupling of the pulse from the waveguide resonator when said fast-action switch is activated.