Nonlinear analysis of a multi-cavity gyro-twystron

To preserve high gain, high efficiency and high power merits of gyroklystron, a gyro-twystron is designed using an electron beam with α(v_⊥/v_z) greater than unity. With a multi-cavity section of high gain, the length of the waveguide output section can be made shorter than the threshold length of the absolute instability without losing total system gain. Numerical simulations are carried out to analyze a ka-band gyro- twystron consisting of three TE₁₁₁ mode cavities and an output section of a TE₁₁ mode waveguide. Stability study is performed to ensure the tube without self-excited oscillations. With α=1.5, the 3-dB linear and saturated gain bandwidth in excess of 2 % can be obtained by stagger tuning for an 80 kV, 3 A electron beam with 5 % axial velocity spread. The maximum saturated gain is more than 55 dB at 33 % efficiency. By tapering the magnetic field of the last 2 cm of the interaction region, the efficiency can be increased to 43 % without degrading the bandwidth, which corresponds to an output power of 103 kW.