A. D. R. Phelps

GYROTRON TRAVELING WAVE AMPLIFIER WITH A HELICAL INTERACTION WAVEGUIDE

A new microwave system in the form of a cylindrical waveguide with a helical corrugation of the inner surface is proposed for a gyrotron traveling wave tube (gyro-TWT). The corrugation radically changes the wave dispersion in the region of small axial wave numbers. This allows significant reduction in the sensitivity of the amplifier to the electron velocity spread and an increase in its frequency bandwidth. An X-band gyro-TWT operating at the second cyclotron harmonic with a 200-keV, 25-A electron beam produced an output power of 1 MW, corresponding to a gain of 23 dB and an efficiency of 20%.

A cusp electron gun for millimeter wave gyrodevices

The experimental results of a thermionic cusp electron gun, to drive millimeter and submillimeter wave harmonic gyrodevices, are reported in this paper. Using a “smooth” magnetic field reversal formed by two coils this gun generated an annular-shaped, axis-encircling electron beam with 1.5 A current, and an adjustable velocity ratio α of up to 1.56 at a beam voltage of 40 kV. The beam cross-sectional shape and transported beam current were measured by a witness plate technique and Faraday cup, respectively. These measured results were found to be in excellent agreement with the simulated results using the three-dimensional code MAGIC.

Helically corrugated waveguide gyrotron traveling wave amplifier using a thermionic cathode electron gun

Experimental operation of a gyrotron traveling wave amplifier with a helically corrugated waveguide using a thermionic cathode electron gun is presented. The coupling between the second harmonic cyclotron mode of the gyrating electron beam and the radiation occurred in the region of near infinite phase velocity over a broad frequency band. With an axis-encircling electron beam of pitch factor of ∼1.2, energy of 185keV, and current of 6.0A, the amplifier achieved an output power of 220kW, saturated gain of 24dB, saturated bandwidth of 8.4to10.4GHz, and an interaction efficiency of 20%.

Gyro-BWO experiments using a helical interaction waveguide

A helically corrugated waveguide was used for a gyrotron backward-wave oscillator (gyro-BWO) experiment. A thermionic cathode was used to produce an electron beam of 90-215 keV in energy, 2-3 A in current, and pitch alpha of up to 1.6. The oscillator achieved high-efficiency frequency-tunable operation. At a fixed beam voltage of 185 kV and a current of 2 A, the output frequency was tuned by adjusting the magnetic field in the interaction cavity. A maximum power of 62 kW and a 3-dB frequency-tuning band of 8.0-9.5 GHz (17% relative tuning range) with a maximum electronic efficiency of 16.5% were measured. In addition, the interaction frequency could be tuned by varying the electron beam energy. At a fixed cavity magnetic field of 0.195 T, the output frequency and power from the gyro-BWO were measured as a function of tuning electron beam energy while the beam current was maintained at 2.5 A. A 3-dB relative frequency tuning range of 8% was measured when the electron beam voltage was changed from 215 to 110 kV.

Axis-encircling electron beam generation using a smooth magnetic cusp for gyrodevices

The generation of an annular-shaped axis-encircling electron beam using a smooth magnetic cusp was studied through numerical simulations and experiments for harmonic operation of a gyrodevice. Two magnetic coils were used to form a magnetic cusp located just downstream from the velvet cathode of an accelerator diode. An electron beam of current 34 A and voltage 130 kV with an adjustable velocity ratio α up to 1.2 was fully transported to the downstream uniform magnetic field region and used to drive a gyrotron traveling wave amplifier into saturation.

Theory and simulations of a gyrotron backward wave oscillator using a helical interaction waveguide

A gyrotron backward wave oscillator (gyro-BWO) with a helically corrugated interaction waveguide demonstrated its potential as a powerful microwave source with high efficiency and a wide frequency tuning range. This letter presents the theory describing the dispersion properties of such a waveguide and the linear beam-wave interaction. Numerical simulation results using the PIC code MAGIC were found to be in excellent agreement with the output measured from a gyro-BWO experiment.

Multi-Mode Coupling Wave Theory for Helically Corrugated Waveguide

Helically corrugated waveguide has been used in various applications such as gyro-backward wave oscillators, gyro-traveling wave amplifier and microwave pulse compressor. A fast prediction of the dispersion characteristic of the operating eigenwave is very important when designing a helically corrugated waveguide. In this paper, multi-mode coupling wave equations were developed based on the perturbation method. This method was then used to analyze a five-fold helically corrugated waveguide used for X-band microwave compression. The calculated result from this analysis was found to be in excellent agreement with the results from numerical simulation using CST Microwave Studio and vector network analyzer measurements.

Millimeter wave generation from a pseudospark-sourced electron beam

Experimental studies of the production and propagation of an electron beam from a multigap pseudospark discharge are presented. From a three-gap pseudospark, a beam up to 680 A was measured at the anode at an applied dc voltage of 23 kV. This beam can propagate downstream as far as 20 cm in a gaseous environment with no guiding magnetic field, which confirms that the transport of the electron beam was based on the neutralization of the space charge of the electron beam due to the ionization of the gas molecules by the beam itself. The beam is of very small size of 1-3 mm in diameter and is ideal to drive high frequency radiation. Higher energy electron beam pulses were generated using a 14-gap pseudospark discharge powered by a cable pulser capable of producing 120 ns duration and 170 kV voltage pulses. The beam measured had a current of up to 110 A. Interactions between the produced beam and a Ka-band Cherenkov maser and a W-band backward wave oscillator slow wave structure were simulated and designed. Millimeter wave pulses were detected from the Cherenkov maser and backward wave oscillator beam-wave interaction experiments.

Design and Numerical Optimization of a Cusp-Gun-Based Electron Beam for Millimeter-Wave Gyro-Devices

A novel thermionic cusp electron gun operating in the temperature-limited regime that produces a large-orbit electron beam through a nonadiabatic magnetic-field reversal was designed, analyzed, and optimized to give an electron-beam ideal for driving gyro-devices, particularly in the millimeter-to-submillimeter-wavelength range due to its small cross-sectional size. The annular-shaped axis-encircling electron beam had a beam current of 1.5 A at an acceleration potential of 40 kV, a tunable velocity ratio alpha (= vperp/vz) between one and three, an optimized axial velocity spread A.vx/vz of ~8%, and a relative alpha spread Deltakappa/alpha of ~10% at an alpha value of 1.65.

Generation and application of pseudospark-sourced electron beams

A pseudospark (PS) discharge has been shown to be a promising source of high brightness, high intensity electron beam pulses. A PS-sourced electron beam has two phases, an initial hollow cathode phase (HCP) beam followed by a conductive phase (CP) beam. In our experiments, a 22 kV, 50 A HCP beam of brightness 109–10 A m−2 rad−2 followed by a 200 V, 200 A CP beam of brightness 1011–12 A m−2 rad−2 were measured. Experiments have been conducted with the application of a HCP beam in a Cherenkov interaction with no input seed wave and with post-acceleration of the CP beam. In this paper, a new Cherenkov interaction experiment with an input seed wave from a 20 kW, 35 GHz pulsed magnetron has been designed using the same PS HCP beam. Simulation results of the interaction will be presented and further PS electron beam applications will be discussed.