Zisis C. Ioannidis

Eigenvalues and Ohmic Losses in Coaxial Gyrotron Cavity

The authors present the mathematical analysis for the calculation of the dispersion relation, the field distributions, and the ohmic losses for TEm,p modes in an infinite coaxial waveguide with a longitudinally corrugated insert. The method employed is based on an appropriate eigenfunction expansion, and its main advantage is the very fast convergence with a few spatial harmonics. The analysis is properly extended to include tapered cavities with varying, in respect to the z-coordinate, outer and/or inner radius. Numerical results are presented for several tapered cavity geometries and compared with already published methods

From Series Production of Gyrotrons for W7-X Toward EU-1 MW Gyrotrons for ITER

Europe is devoting significant joint efforts to develop and to manufacture MW-level gyrotrons for electron cyclotron heating and current drive of future plasma experiments. The two most important ones are the stellarator Wendelstein W7-X at Greifswald and the Tokamak ITER at Cadarache. While the series production of the 140 GHz, 1 MW, CW gyrotrons for the 10-MW electron cyclotron resonance heating system of stellarator W7-X is proceeding, the European GYrotron Consortium is presently developing the EU-1 MW, 170 GHz, CW gyrotron for ITER. The initial design had already been initiated in 2007, as a risk mitigation measure during the development of the advanced ITER EU-2-MW coaxial-cavity gyrotron. The target of the ITER EU-1-MW conventional-cavity design is to benefit as much as possible from the experiences made during the development and series production of the W7-X gyrotron and of the experiences gained from the earlier EU-2-MW coaxial-cavity gyrotron design. Hence, the similarity of the construction will be made visible in this paper. During 2012, the scientific design of the ITER EU-1-MW gyrotron components has been finalized. In collaboration with the industrial partner Thales electron devices, Vélizy, France, the industrial design of the technological parts of the gyrotron is being completed. A short-pulse prototype is under development to support the design of the CW prototype tube. The technological path toward the EU ITER-1 MW gyrotron and the final design will be presented.

Azimuthal Mode Coupling in Coaxial Waveguides and Cavities With Longitudinally Corrugated Insert

Coaxial resonant cavities with longitudinal corrugations on the inner conductor are used in high-frequency high-power gyrotrons as means to reduce the number of possible competing modes. For a sufficiently large number of corrugations, the analytical approach usually treats the surface corrugation as a homogeneous surface impedance to obtain simple formulas for the characteristic equation and field components. These formulas can be introduced to interaction codes in a quite straightforward way. Full-wave approaches that account for the azimuthal periodicity of the structure and consider azimuthal spatial harmonics to describe the field distributions have been also employed, increasing though the complexity of the solution and the effort given in numerical calculations. In this paper, a full-wave code is used in an attempt to identify the way that the azimuthal spatial terms contribute to the reformation of the eigenvalue spectrum and propose a criterion for the selection of the spatial terms that should be taken into account for accurate enough calculations.

Dispersion characteristics of a rectangular waveguide grating

We study the dispersion characteristics of a rectangular waveguide grating for microwave amplifier applications. The Floquet theorem and an appropriate standing waves expansion is employed to express the fields in the vacuum region and inside the grooves, respectively. The application of the boundary conditions leads to an infinite system of equations, which is solved numerically by truncation. The main advantage of the procedure employed is that it gives directly and with a few spatial harmonics the dispersion relation. Furthermore, an adequate procedure (simulation tool) has been introduced in order to distinguish the real roots from spurious solutions and it has been found to work effectively for all cases presented in this work. Numerical results are presented for both shallow and deep grooves and comparison with previously published works is made.

A comparative study on the modeling of dynamic after-cavity interaction in gyrotrons

There are cases where gyrotron interaction simulations predict dynamic After-Cavity Interaction (ACI). In dynamic ACI, a mode is excited by the electron beam at a dominant frequency in the gyrotron cavity and, at the same time, this mode is also interacting with the beam at a different frequency in the non-linear uptaper after the cavity. In favor of dynamic ACI being a real physical effect, there are some experimental findings that could be attributed to it, as well as some physical rationale indicating the possibility of a mode being resonant with the beam at different frequencies in different regions. However, the interaction codes used in dynamic ACI prediction up to now are based on simplifications that put questions on their capability of correctly simulating this effect. In this work, the shortcomings of the usual simplifications with respect to dynamic ACI modeling, namely, the trajectory approach and the single-frequency boundary condition, are identified. Extensive simulations of dynamic ACI cases are presented, using several “in-house” as well as commercial codes. We report on the comparison and the assessment of different modeling approaches and their results and we discuss whether, in some cases, dynamic ACI can be a numerical artifact or not. Although the possibility of existence of dynamic ACI in gyrotrons is not disputed, it is concluded that the widely used trajectory approach for gyrotron interaction modeling is questionable for simulating dynamic ACI and can lead to misleading results.

Design of the EU-1MW gyrotron for ITER

EU is developing a 1 MW cylindrical cavity gyrotron. In the last year the design of the components of the new gyrotron has been finalized while the technological design of the new tube has been defined. In the present paper, the main characteristics of the new EU gyrotron for ITER are presented.

Calculations on the Beam–Wave Interactions in Coaxial Gyrotron Beam Tunnels

We present the mathematical formulation and numerical results for the beam-wave interaction in a coaxial waveguide with rectangular slots filled with a lossy dielectric material. The formalism is based on a full-wave analysis and the linearized Vlasov equation. Numerical results are given for all kinds of modes in simplified gyrotron beam tunnels, and the effect of the losses to the parasitic oscillations is examined and discussed.

Dependence of Parasitic Modes on Geometry and Attenuation in Gyrotron Beam Tunnels

Recent high-power gyrotrons, capable of producing radio-frequency power above 1 MW, often suffer from parasitic oscillations in the beam tunnel, despite the presence of dielectric loading materials intended to prevent the growth of such modes. Such oscillations affect the operation and the efficiency of these devices significantly. Lately, a variety of dielectric materials have been used, with limited success, in ring-loaded beam tunnels to suppress unwanted oscillations. In this paper, we perform an extended parametric study of the effects of beam-tunnel geometry and lossy material properties on the damping of such oscillations.

Computational studies on scattering of radio frequency waves by density filaments in fusion plasmas

In modern magnetic fusion devices, such as tokamaks and stellarators, radio frequency (RF) waves are commonly used for plasma heating and current profile control, as well as for certain diagnostics. The frequencies of the RF waves range from ion cyclotron frequency to the electron cyclotron frequency. The RF waves are launched from structures, like waveguides and current straps, placed near the wall in a very low density, tenuous plasma region of a fusion device. The RF electromagnetic fields have to propagate through this scrape-off layer before coupling power to the core of the plasma. The scrape-off layer is characterized by turbulent plasmas fluctuations and by blobs and filaments. The variations in the edge density due to these fluctuations and filaments can affect the propagation characteristics of the RF waves—changes in density leading to regions with differing plasma permittivity. Analytical full-wave theories have shown that scattering by blobs and filaments can alter the RF power flow into the ...

Selectivity Properties of Coaxial Gyrotron Cavities With Mode Converting Corrugations

Longitudinally corrugated inserts have been proposed as an additional mean to enhance the selectivity properties of coaxial gyrotron cavities. However, when increasing the frequency and the output power, the corrugated insert may not be sufficient to ensure mode stability. Vane loaded cavities with corrugated inserts seem to have the potential for superior mode selectivity and could be employed to facilitate the development of multimegawatt gyrotrons. In this paper, a numerical code based on the spatial harmonics method is used to study the spectrum rearrangement of a typical coaxial cavity with corrugated insert in which additional wedge-shaped corrugations are introduced on the outer wall. A general design procedure for the upgrade of the mode selectivity is presented. Its merits are demonstrated for a 140-GHz gyrotron cavity.