Comparison of Electron-Beam-Misalignment Effect on Starting Current and Output Power in Coaxial-Cavity and Cylindrical-Cavity Gyrotron Oscillators

Comparative study is presented to the effect of the electron-beam misalignment on the starting current and output power of the coaxial-cavity and cylindrical-cavity gyrotron oscillators operating in the millimeter wave ranges. The numerical analysis is based on the gyrokinetic formulas for a TE_28,16,1 mode at a frequency of 140 GHz. Results show that the coaxial-cavity gyrotron oscillator has lower starting current and less power loss than the cylindrical-cavity gyrotron oscillator when the electron-beam axis has a misalignment to the cavity axis.     

Development of 394.6 GHz CW Gyrotron (Gyrotron FU CW II) for DNP/Proton-NMR at 600 MHz

Gyrotron FU CW II with an 8 T liquid He free superconducting magnet, the second gyrotron of the THz Gyrotron FU CW Series, has been constructed and the operation test was successfully carried out. It will be used for enhancing the sensitivity of 600 MHz proton-NMR by use of Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP). The designed operation mode of the gyrotron is TE_2,6 at the second harmonic. The corresponding frequency is 394.6 GHz. The real operation frequency is 394.3 GHz at TE₀₆ mode, because of fabrication error of the diameter of the cavity. The operation is in complete CW at the output power of around 30 W or higher at the TE₀₆ cavity mode. There are many other operation modes at the fundamental and the second harmonic. Typical output power of the fundamental and the second harmonic are higher than 100 W and 20 W, respectively. The highest frequency observed up to the present is 443.5 GHz at the second harmonic operation of TE_6,5 mode. The measured results are compared with the theoretical consideration.     

Detailed Consideration of Experimental Results of Gyrotron FU CW II Developed as a Radiation Source for DNP-NMR Spectroscopy

A CW gyrotron for the sensitivity enhancement of NMR spectroscopy through dynamic nuclear polarization has been designed. The gyrotron operates at the second harmonic and frequency of 394.6 GHz with the main operating mode TE_0,6. Operating conditions of other neighboring cavity modes such as TE_2,6 at frequency of 392.6 GHz and TE_2,3 at frequency of 200.7 GHz were also considered. The experimental conditions of the gyrotron at low and high voltages are simulated. The output power of 56 watts corresponds to the efficiency of 2 percent at low voltage operation and frequency of 394.6 GHz is expected.     

Performance Test of CW 300?GHz Gyrotron FU CW I

A 300 GHz CW gyrotron FU CW I has been developed and installed in the Research Center for Development of Far-Infrared Region, University of Fukui as a power source of a high frequency material processing system. Its performance was tested and the maximum power of 1.75 kW / CW has been attained at the beam voltage of 15 kV and the beam current of 1A. The maximum window power efficiency of 15.5% has been obtained at the cathode voltage slightly lower than 15 kV. This gyrotron is designed to deliver a Gaussian beam after mode conversion from the oscillation mode TE_22,8 in the cavity with a complex of an internal radiator and beam shaping mirrors. The detailed measurement with an infrared camera has confirmed that a Gaussian beam is radiated when the magnetic field strength B _c at the cavity is adjusted at a proper value. However, within a range of B _c , the output power is emerged into multiple directions, which suggests simultaneous oscillation of competing cavity modes.     

Design of a CW 1 THz Gyrotron (Gyrotron Fu Cw III) Using a 20 T Superconducting Magnet

Design of a CW 1 THz gyrotron at second harmonic operation using a 20 T superconducting magnet has been described. The mode competition analysis is employed to investigate operation conditions of second harmonic mode, which is being excited at the frequency ranging from 920 GHz to 1014 GHz. The output power up to 250 watt corresponding to the efficiency of 4.16 percent could be achieved by using an electron beam with accelerating voltage 30 kV and current 200 mA. The important advantage of this gyrotron is that the single mode excitation at second harmonic, and extremely high frequency of the radiation, could be maintained even at high currents. It opens possibility to realize a high power radiation source at 1 THz. Such gyrotron is under construction at FIR Center, University of Fukui.     

Application of the Gyrotron FU II Submillimeter Wave Radiation Source to Plasma Scattering Measurements

Gyrotron FU II has been successfully applied as a submillimeter wave radiation source to plasma scattering measurements on the Compact Helical System (CHS) in National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) in Japan. The gyrotron operates in a long pulse mode (the pulse width is about 600 ms) at a frequency of about 350 GHz (the corresponding wavelength is 0.85 mm). The output power is about 110 W. The output power is transmitted along a circular waveguide system and converted to a Gaussian-like beam by a quasi-optical antenna. After that, the beam is directed onto the CHS plasma and the scattered signal is detected by a homodyne detection system. The frequency and the wave number of the scattered signal are analyzed. The results suggest that a broad band low frequency (several tens to several hundreds kHz) density fluctuation is excited in the CHS plasma only during neutral beam injection (NBI) or ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) heating.     

Continuous-Wave Operation of a Frequency-Tunable 460-GHz Second-Harmonic Gyrotron for Enhanced Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

The design, operation, and characterization of a continuous-wave (CW) tunable second-harmonic 460-GHz gyrotron are reported. The gyrotron is intended to be used as a submillimeter-wave source for 700-MHz nuclear magnetic resonance experiments with sensitivity enhanced by dynamic nuclear polarization. The gyrotron operates in the whispering-gallery mode TE(11,2) and has generated 16 W of output power with a 13-kV 100-mA electron beam. The start oscillation current measured over a range of magnetic field values is in good agreement with theoretical start currents obtained from linear theory for successive high-order axial modes TE(11,2,q). The minimum start current is 27 mA. Power and frequency tuning measurements as a function of the electron cyclotron frequency have also been carried out. A smooth frequency tuning range of 1 GHz was obtained for the operating second-harmonic mode either by magnetic field tuning or beam voltage tuning. Long-term CW operation was evaluated during an uninterrupted period of 48 h, where the gyrotron output power and frequency were kept stable to within ±0.7% and ±6 ppm, respectively, by a computerized control system. Proper operation of an internal quasi-optical mode converter implemented to transform the operating whispering-gallery mode to a Gaussian-like beam was also verified. Based on the images of the gyrotron output beam taken with a pyroelectric camera, the Gaussian-like mode content of the output beam was computed to be 92% with an ellipticity of 12%.     

8mm TE13 Mode Gyrotron

The design of a 8mm TE ₁₃ mode gyrotron is given in this paper. Discussions about the selection of the dimensions of the RF structure and electron gun are presented. Calculated results of the operating parameters of the gyrotron are also given. At 37.5GHz, pulse power 56kW is obtained for the gyrotron manufactured according to our design. Mode pattern obtained by scorching method shows that the mode of the output millimeter wave is TE ₁₃.     

Electron Gun for Powerful Short Pulse Gyrotron with Operating Magnetic Field 8 T

High power short pulse gyrotron with operating frequency 395 GHz operating on the second cyclotron harmonic is now under developing at FIR FU. The gyrotron is planned to use in future experiments for plasma diagnostics. For this purpose the output power about 100 kW and pulse duration 100 ns at least are needed. Preliminary estimations of parameters of some versions of the electron guns with accelerating potential U₀= 70-100 kV were performed. Possibilities of non-adiabatic as well as adiabatic guns were considered. It was shown that non-adiabatic system is not reliable for such rather low value of U₀, the adiabatic magnetron injection gun (MIG) is more preferable for the gyrotron design. Analytical estimations of the suitable MIG dimensions and operating regime to form good quality electron beam were fulfilled. Numerical optimization of the gun shape and position was performed. It was shown that in spite of the extremely big ratio of the operating current (I₀= 18 A) to the Langmuir current of the gun, close to 0.4-0.5, the suggested MIG can form the helical electron beam (HEB) which is suitable for gyrotron operation properties.     

Design of a Large Orbit Gyrotron with a Permanent Magnet System

The paper presents results of numerical analysis and outlines the computer-aided design of a novel high-harmonic gyrotron with a beam of electrons gyrating along axis-encircling trajectories. The electron beam is formed by a novel electron-optical system (EOS) based on an electron gun of diode type with thermionic cathode and gradual reversal of the magnetic field. The results of numerical simulations predict satisfactory performance of the EOS and appropriate beam quality parameters. The tube design allows one to install different cavities optimized for excitation of TE_4,1 mode at the fourth harmonic of the cyclotron frequency or TE_3,1 mode at the third one. The target parameters of the device are: frequency about 112 GHz; output power near 1 kW and efficiency of several percent.     

Continuous-Wave Operation of a 460-GHz Second Harmonic Gyrotron Oscillator

We report the regulated continuous-wave (CW) operation of a second harmonic gyrotron oscillator at output power levels of over 8 W (12.4 kV and 135 mA beam voltage and current) in the TE(0,6,1) mode near 460 GHz. The gyrotron also operates in the second harmonic TE(2,6,1) mode at 456 GHz and in the TE(2,3,1) fundamental mode at 233 GHz. CW operation was demonstrated for a one-hour period in the TE(0,6,1) mode with better than 1% power stability, where the power was regulated using feedback control. Nonlinear simulations of the gyrotron operation agree with the experimentally measured output power and radio-frequency (RF) efficiency when cavity ohmic losses are included in the analysis. The output radiation pattern was measured using a pyroelectric camera and is highly Gaussian, with an ellipticity of 4%. The 460-GHz gyrotron will serve as a millimeter-wave source for sensitivity-enhanced nuclear magnetic resonance (dynamic nuclear polarization) experiments at a magnetic field of 16.4 T.     

Influence of Aftercavity Interaction on Gyrotron Efficiency

We consider theoretically the influence of interaction of a used electron beam with a concurrent wave in the output waveguide transition outside the cavity on the efficiency and energy recovery in a powerful millimeter-wave gyrotron. Without energy recovery, parasitic interaction in the transition reduces the efficiency and output power of a gyrotron by 5–10%. In a gyrotron with energy recovery, losses due to interaction in the transition can become most significant compared with other losses, and the efficiency is reduced by 20–30%. The influence of the transition decreases with decreasing transition length and increasing ratio of the maximum radius to the minimum radius of the transition.     

Observations of Phase Locking in a Single-Cavity Gyrotron Oscillator

Observations of phase locking in a single-cavity gyrotron oscillator operating at 35 GHz are reported. Injection of the locking power was made via a circulator into the gyrotron output guide. Locking was observed with input power levels as low as 35 dB below the gyrotron power. For low input powers, good agreement is found with theory based on lumped-element circuit modeling and a new distributed oscillator model.     

Gyrotron cavity with an optimized profile

A modified gyrotron cavity is proposed. It is shown that an optimized profile of the cavity wall allows decreasing the maximal thermal load on the wall while the electron efficiency stays high, which makes it possible to achieve higher magnitudes of output gyrotron power.     

Analysis of a Complete Gyrotron Oscillator Using the Scattering Matrix Description

Complete harmonic gyrotron oscillators in axial arrangement including cavity, uptapers, collector waveguide and output window have been numerically simulated using a scattering matrix resonator code. The output mode purity and the influence of window reflections on the performance of a step-tunable, very high frequency gyrotron, Gyrotron FU IV A, at Fukui University was analyzed.     

High-Efficient Mode Converter for ITER Gyrotron

A high-efficiency mode converter of the ITER gyrotron operating mode into the Gaussian wave beam has been developed. It includes an irradiating waveguide with shallow deformation and profiled quasi-optical mirrors to increase the Gaussian content. Low-power tests were carried out with a TE_25.10 mode exciter and a mode converter. A prototype of the short-pulsed 170 GHz gymtmn with the new converter was manufactured and tested. Diffraction losses measured inside the tube were less then 2% at the 1 MW power level. A high Gaussian mode content in the output beam has been also demonstrated.     

Temporal Dynamics of Mode Interaction in Submillimeter-Wave Second-Harmonic Gyrotron

Competition of the operating modes at the second cyclotron harmonic with spurious modes at fundamental is studied numerically for the cases of gyrotron and traveling opposite spurious modes in the gyrotron FU II. This competition limits significantly the output power at the second harmonic. The results are in good agreement with experiments.     

Mode Selection for a Terahertz Gyrotron Based on a Pulse Magnet System

The TE_6,11 mode has been selected as a candidate for the second harmonic operation of a terahertz gyrotron at 1007.68 GHz. The predicted efficiency is 8.6 percent for the output power 0.38 kW. Time-dependent, multi-mode calculations have been carried out to investigate stability of a single-mode operation at second harmonic. It has been found that with the beam current 0.111 A and the magnetic field 19.282 T the second harmonic operation in the TE_6,11 mode is possible.     

Properties of a Second Harmonic Gyrotron Cavity with Internal Blazed Grating

Spectral domain analysis, scattering matrix analysis and PIC simulations are used here to design a second harmonic gyrotron cavity with an internal blazed grating which favors operation at the second harmonic of the electron cyclotron frequency rather than operation at the electron cyclotron frequency itself. Based on these simulations, the cavity design is optimized. The results show that a new gyrotron with higher power and higher frequency can be achieved by incorporating such a blazed grating.     

Experimental Test of the Natural Scheme of Electron Beam Energy Recovery in a Coaxial Gyrotron

It is shown that the efficiency of a coaxial gyrotron can be increased considerably by applying only independently appropriate voltages to its electrodes (without modifying design). The proposed scheme is also suitable for stepwise frequency tuning and for deep modulation of output power.