Analyses of advanced concepts in multi-stage gyro-amplifiers and startup in high-power gyro-oscillators

Abstract

Gyrotrons are well recognized sources of high-power coherent electromagnetic radiation. The power that gyrotrons can radiate in the millimeter- and submillimeter-wavelength regions exceeds the power of classical microwave tubes by many orders of magnitude. In this work, the author considers some problems related to the operation of gyro-devices and methods of their solution. In particular, the self-excitation conditions for parasitic backward waves and effect of distributed losses on the small-signal gain of gyro-TWTs are analyzed. The corresponding small-signal theory describing two-stage gyro-traveling-wave tubes (gyro-TWTs) with the first stage having distributed losses is presented. The theory is illustrated by using it for the description of operation of a Ka-band gyro-TWT designed at the Naval Research Laboratory. Also, the results of nonlinear studies of this tube are presented and compared with the ones obtained by the use of MAGY, a multi-frequency, self-consistent code developed at the University of Maryland. An attempt to build a large signal theory of gyro-TWTs with tapered geometry and magnetic field profile is made and first results are obtained for a 250 GHz gyro-TWT.

A comparative small-signal analysis of conventional four-cavity and three-stage clustered-cavity gyroklystrons is performed. The corresponding point-gap models for these devices are presented. The efficiency, gain, bandwidth and gain-bandwidth product are analyzed for each scheme. Advantages of the clustered-cavity over the conventional design are discussed.

The startup scenarios in high-power gyrotrons and the most important physical effects associated with them are considered. The work presents the results of startup simulations for a 140 GHz, MW-class gyrotron developed by Communications and Power Industries (CPI) for electron-cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) and current drive experiments on the "Wendelstein 7-X" stellarator plasma. Also presented are the results for a 110 GHz, 1.5 MW gyrotron currently being developed at CPI. The simulations are carried out for six competing modes and with the effects of electron velocity spread and voltage depression taken into account.

Also, the slow stage of the startup in long-pulse gyrotrons is analyzed and attention is paid to the effects of ion compensation of the beam space charge, frequency deviation due to the cavity wall heating and beam current decrease due to cathode cooling. These effects are modeled with a simple nonlinear theory and the code MAGY.