Particle Simulation of a Millimeter Wave Multiwave Cerenkov Generator Producing Gigawatt Power Levels

The Multiwave Cerenkov Generator(MWCG) is investigated with a two and one half dimensional(2 1/2 D) electromagnetic relativistic Particle-in-Cell(PIC) simulation code. NonIinear beam-wave interaction is considered in the code. Deep insights into the MWCG are demonstrated by simulations. Some of the results agree with those of experiments. The radiation is generated with its dominant frequency at 35.5GHz. The power level of 3.8GW is achieved, with radiation efficiency up to 24%. The harmonics of both 71.0GHz and 106.5GHz are observed. The features of parameters dependency are presented. And reasonable explanation is put forward.     

High Power Gyro-Devices for Plasma Heating and Other Applications

Gyrotron oscillators 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 generation of energy by controlled thermonuclear fusion. The maximum pulse length of commercially available 1 MW gyrotrons employing synthetic diamond output windows is 5 s at 110 GHz (CPI and JAERI-TOSHIBA), 12 s at 140 GHz (FZK-CRPP-CEA-TED) and 10 s at 170 GHz (GYCOM and JAERI-TOSHIBA), with efficiencies slightly above 30%. Total efficiencies of 45–50 % have been obtained using single-stage depressed collectors (SDC). The energy world record of 160 MJ (0.89 MW at 180 s pulse length and 140 GHz) at power levels higher than 0.8 MW has been achieved by the European FZK-CRPP-CEA-TED collaboration at FZK. Operation at the 1^st and the 2^nd harmonic of the EC frequency enables gyrotrons to act as medium power step-tunable mm- and sub-mm wave sources in the frequency range from 38 GHz (fundamental) to 889 GHz (2nd harmonic) for plasma diagnostics, EC plasma discharges for generation of multi-charged ions, high-frequency broadband electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and medical applications. Gyrotrons have also been successfully used in materials processing. Such technological applications require gyrotrons with the following parameters: f 24 GHz, P_out = 4–50 kW, CW, 30%. Future applications which await the development of novel high-power gyro-amplifiers include high resolution radar ranging and imaging in atmospheric and planetary science as well as deep-space and specialized satellite communications and RF drivers for next-generation high-gradient linear accelerators (supercolliders). The present paper reviews the state-of-the-art and future prospects of gyro-devices and their applications.