The electric and magnetic fields in a CFA are perpendicular to each other ("crossed fields"). This is the same type of field interaction used in a magnetron; as a result, the two devices share many characteristics (such as high peak power and efficiency) and they have similar physical appearances. However, a magnetron is an oscillator and a CFA is an amplifier (although a CFA can be driven to oscillate by application of improper low voltages as can any amplifier); a CFA's RF circuit (or slow-wave structure) is similar to that in a coupled-cavity TWT.