In this paper, the helix slow wave structure (SWS) of traveling wave tubes (TWT's) has been analyzed, Dielectric supporting rods of arbitrary cross section have been considered in this analysis. The inhomogeneous dielectric loading factor has been accounted for by modeling the discrete support with a number of continuous dielectric tubes of appropriate effective dielectric permittivity, The helix tape model has been used for the field analysis. Furthermore the thickness of the helix tape has been considered. A rigorous solution of the field equations, including the contribution of the space harmonics, was performed to evaluate the phase velocity and the interaction impedance up to millimeter-wave frequencies. The nonuniformity of radial propagation constant over the structure cross section has been also included. With respect to other approaches, a closed-form expression of the field constants has been obtained.

A study to choose the optimum number of space harmonics and dielectric tubes to be used in the analysis, has shown how the results are more sensitive to the number of space harmonics than to the number of dielectric tubes, beyond a certain number of the latter.

The validity of this theory has been proved by comparison between measurements and simulations for helix SWS with different dimensions, rod shapes and operating frequency band.