The electron cyclotron maser (ECM) is based on a stimulated cyclotron emission process involving energetic electrons in gyrational motion. It constitutes a cornerstone of relativistic electronics, a discipline that has emerged from our understanding and utilization of relativistic effects for the generation of coherent radiation from free electrons. Over a span of four decades, the ECM has undergone a remarkably successful evolution from basic research to device implementation while continuously being enriched by new physical insights. By delivering unprecedented power levels, ECM-based devices have occupied a unique position in the millimeter and submillimeter regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and find use in numerous applications such as fusion plasma heating, advanced radars, industrial processing, materials characterization, particle acceleration, and tracking of space objects. This article presents a comprehensive review of the fundamental principles of the ECM and their embodiment in practical devices.

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The electron cyclotron maser

This paper presents a review of the experimental achievements related to the development of high-power gyrotron oscillators for long-pulse or CW operation and pulsed gyrotrons for many applications. In addition, this work gives a short overview on the present development status of frequency step-tunable and multi-frequency gyrotrons, coaxial-cavity multi-megawatt gyrotrons, gyrotrons for technological and spectroscopy applications, relativistic gyrotrons, large orbit gyrotrons (LOGs), quasi-optical gyrotrons, fast- and slow-wave cyclotron autoresonance masers (CARMs), gyroklystrons, gyro-TWT amplifiers, gyrotwystron amplifiers, gyro-BWOs, gyro-harmonic converters, gyro-peniotrons, magnicons, free electron masers (FEMs), and dielectric vacuum windows for such high-power mm-wave sources. Gyrotron oscillators (gyromonotrons) are mainly used as high-power millimeter wave sources for electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH), electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD), stability control, and diagnostics of magnetically confined plasmas for clean generation of energy by controlled thermonuclear fusion. The maximum pulse length of commercially available 140 GHz, megawatt-class gyrotrons employing synthetic diamond output windows is 30 min (CPI and European KIT-SPC-THALES collaboration). The world record parameters of the European tube are as follows: 0.92 MW output power at 30-min pulse duration, 97.5% Gaussian mode purity, and 44% efficiency, employing a single-stage depressed collector (SDC) for energy recovery. A maximum output power of 1.5 MW in 4.0-s pulses at 45% efficiency was generated with the QST-TOSHIBA (now CANON) 110-GHz gyrotron. The Japan 170-GHz ITER gyrotron achieved 1 MW, 800 s at 55% efficiency and holds the energy world record of 2.88 GJ (0.8 MW, 60 min) and the efficiency record of 57% for tubes with an output power of more than 0.5 MW. The Russian 170-GHz ITER gyrotron obtained 0.99 (1.2) MW with a pulse duration of 1000 (100) s and 53% efficiency. The prototype tube of the European 2-MW, 170-GHz coaxial-cavity gyrotron achieved in short pulses the record power of 2.2 MW at 48% efficiency and 96% Gaussian mode purity. Gyrotrons with pulsed magnet for various short-pulse applications deliver Pout = 210 kW with τ = 20 μs at frequencies up to 670 GHz (η ≅ 20%), Pout = 5.3 kW at 1 THz (η = 6.1%), and Pout = 0.5 kW at 1.3 THz (η = 0.6%). Gyrotron oscillators have also been successfully used in materials processing. Such technological applications require tubes with the following parameters: f > 24 GHz, Pout = 4–50 kW, CW, η > 30%. The CW powers produced by gyroklystrons and FEMs are 10 kW (94 GHz) and 36 W (15 GHz), respectively. The IR FEL at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in the USA obtained a record average power of 14.2 kW at a wavelength of 1.6 μm. The THz FEL (NOVEL) at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in Russia achieved a maximum average power of 0.5 kW at wavelengths 50–240 μm (6.00–1.25 THz).

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State-of-the-Art of High-Power Gyro-Devices and Free Electron Masers

Physics and technology issues of importance to the high-gain gyrotron traveling wave amplifier (gyro-TWT) are investigated in theory and experiment. The gyro-TWT is known to be highly susceptible to spurious oscillations, especially in high gain operations. In the current study, oscillations of various origins are classified and characterized with detailed theoretical modeling. They are shown to be intricately connected to the interplay between the absolute/convective instabilities, circuit losses, and reflective feedback. Knowledge of these processes leads to the concept of an ultra high gain scheme which employs distributed wall losses for the suppression of spurious oscillations. A proof-of-principle Ka-band gyro-TWT experiment stable at zero drive has produced 93 kW saturated peak power at 26.5% efficiency and 70 dB gain, with a 3 dB saturated output power bandwidth of 3 GHz. The saturated gain is more than 30 dB beyond that previously achieved.

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Theory and experiment of ultrahigh-gain gyrotron traveling wave amplifier

Gyrodevice oscillators and amplifiers (or gyro-oscillators and gyro-amplifiers) are being utilized in a variety of applications where high power levels are required at millimeter-wave frequencies. Gyro-oscillators, developed primarily for magnetic fusion research applications, have achieved power levels near 1 MW for pulse durations in excess of 1 s at frequencies above 100 GHz. Continued work on these devices should enable them to achieve continuous-wave operation at multimegawatt power levels at frequencies in the 100-GHz to 200-GHz range, thereby meeting the requirements of planned magnetic fusion experiments. The development of gyro-oscillators for fusion experiments has led to the utilization of the devices in several industrial applications, such as ceramic sintering and metal joining. Activities in this area involve adapting the oscillators to the industrial environment where reliability, efficiency, and ease of operation are paramount. Gyro-amplifiers are being developed for applications requiring phase coherence and instantaneous bandwidth, such as in linear accelerators and millimeter-wave radar. Impressive results from X-band to W-band already suggest the promise of these devices. Potential new applications and novel gyrodevice design approaches continue to attract the attention of researchers around the world.

Characteristics and applications of fast-wave gyrodevices

This paper presents a comprehensive theory of the cyclotron resonance maser (CRM) interaction in a circular waveguide. The kinetic theory is used to derive the dispersion relationships for both TE and TM modes. The TE mode case has been investigated by several authors, but there has been comparatively little work on the TM mode case. However, the TM mode interaction competes effectively with the TE mode interaction at relativistic electron energies. The conditions for maximum temporal and spatial growth rates are shown. The TM mode growth rates are found to vanish when the RF wave group velocity equals the beam axial velocity (‘grazing incidence’). The single particle theory is used to derive a compact set of self-consistent non-linear equations for the TE and TM mode interactions. These equations are particularly appropriate for the cyclotron auto-resonance maser (CARM) regime but applicability extends to other regimes as well. The conditions for optimum efficiency are investigated for oscillator and amp...

Linear and nonlinear theory of the Doppler-shifted cyclotron resonance maser based on TE and TM waveguide modes

A linear theory using Laplace transforms which is applicable to both gyrotron traveling wave amplifiers (gyro-TWTs) and gyrotron backward-wave oscillators (gyro-BWOs) is presented. The validity of the linear theory is verified by comparing it with an existing nonlinear self-consistent theory based on a different approach. In conjunction with a time-dependent multimode particle simulation code, the linear theory is applied to study the stability of harmonic gyro-TWTs. It is shown that a harmonic gyro-TWT can be made stable to all forms of spontaneous oscillations by employing a multistage interaction structure and that it can generate power levels far in excess of those possible for a fundamental gyro-TWT. The linear bandwidth of a second-harmonic gyro-TWT amplifier is also calculated. >

High-power harmonic gyro-TWT's. I. Linear theory and oscillation study

A Bragg reflector composed of periodic cylindrically symmetric corrugations can provide a reflection of nearly unity through the principles of constructive interference, allowing the formation of a frequency selective resonator. Mode conversion will occur, but can be reduced by tapering the amplitude of the corrugations. Reflection measurements are compared with theoretical predictions for untapered sinusoidal and rectangular corrugation as well as a reflector tapered according to the Hamming-window prescription. Measurements of Bragg resonators are also presented. >

Bragg reflectors

For pt.I, see ibid., vol.20, no.3, p.155-162 (1992). Based on an analytical study of the stability problems of gyrotron traveling wave amplifiers (gyro-TWTs), an extremely high power second-harmonic gyro-TWT has been designed, evaluated and optimized with a self-consistent nonlinear numerical simulation code. The design, which is based on the magnetron-injection-gun (MIG)-type beam, is presented. Using a 100 kV, 25 A MIG beam with alpha =1 and an axial velocity spread of 5%, nonlinear self-consistent analysis of a three-stage second-harmonic gyro-TWT amplifier predicts a peak output power of 533 kW, peak efficiency of 21.3% and a 7.4% saturated bandwidth, which verifies the theoretical predictions that a stable harmonic gyro-TWT can generate power levels an order of magnitude higher than those possible from a fundamental gyro-TWT. It is shown that the positioning of the electron beam is very important. A multistage structure is used to recover the loss in gain resulting from shortening the interaction sections to ensure stability. >

High-power harmonic gyro-TWT's. II. Nonlinear theory and design

The operation of a millimeter-wave harmonic gyrotron is described in which the interaction is between large-orbit axis-encircling electrons and cylindrical cavity TEnll modes. Efficiencies up to 15% have been measured for moderate harmonic interactions and multi-kW power levels have been attained at the tenth harmonic of the cyclotron frequency. The concept allows the magnetic field of the gyrotron to be reduced by an order of magnitude, thereby making a submillimeter-wave gyrotron feasible.

Operation of a millimeter-wave harmonic gyrotron

The bandwidth of a gyro-TWT (traveling-wave tube) can be widened by employing a dielectric-loaded waveguide to reduce the circuit's dispersion. Fast wave interaction allows the requirements on the beam's quality to be relaxed compared with slow wave interaction. A low- alpha ( identical to nu /sub perpendicular to // nu /sub z/) electron beam is chosen to avoid the absolute instability and minimize the possibility of dielectric charging. This device is investigated using a self-consistent single-mode, large-signal simulation based on a slow time scale formulation. Simulation results show that a constant drive bandwidth of 20% can be achieved for a 100 kV, 5 A electron beam with a velocity ratio of alpha =0.59 and an axial velocity spread of 2.0%. The growth rate is relatively low because of the low alpha of the electron beam. The design of a proof-of-principle experiment is described. The tube is expected to deliver a power of 80 kW from 9 to 11 GHz with 15% efficiency and a saturated gain of 30 dB. The performance of a single-anode magnetron injection gun designed to produce the required high-quality electron beam has been studied through simulation. >

David B. McDermott

Papers

High-power harmonic gyro-TWT's. I. Linear theory and oscillation study

Bragg reflectors

High-power harmonic gyro-TWT's. II. Nonlinear theory and design

Operation of a millimeter-wave harmonic gyrotron

Dielectric-loaded wideband gyro-TWT