Search

A powerful spatially extended planar Cherenkov maser project operating in ${W}$ -band is under development in collaboration between Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (BINP RAS) (Novosibirsk) and Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS) (Nizhny Novgorod). The ELMI accelerator (1 MeV/5–7 kA/ $3~\mu \text{s}$) forms a sheet electron beam with the transverse size (width) of up to 18 cm, which serves to drive the oscillator. The electrodynamic system of this Cherenkov maser is based on doubly periodical structure, which combines the properties of a slow wave system that realizes conditions for an effective Cherenkov interaction with a high-current rectilinear sheet electron beam and a high- ${Q}$ resonator that implements the mechanism of two-dimensional distributed feedback and provides selective excitation of the operating mode in the strongly oversized interaction space. In this article, the crucial elements and design parameters of the oscillator are discussed, and the results of simulations are presented to demonstrate the possibility of achieving a stable narrow-band generation regime for a transverse system size reaching about 50 wavelengths and a gigawatt output power level. To provide a single-directed output of radiation, a planar Bragg reflector is elaborated for installation at the cathode side of the interaction space. A mode converter formed by a slowly tapered waveguide section for transformation of the radiated wavebeam into a Gaussian-type wavebeam was designed to be installed at the oscillator output. In the electron-optical experiments, the formation of a large-width sheet electron beam with parameters acceptable to drive designed ${W}$ -band Cherenkov maser is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a novel source of high-power 1–3-THz radiation based on frequency multiplication in a planar gyrotron, with transverse energy extraction. In such a scheme, it is possible to increase significantly the transverse size both of the cavity and of the electron beam, and, correspondingly, the output power at the fundamental harmonic. At the same time, equidistant mode spectrum of a cavity of planar gyrotrons is favorable for generation at high-order cyclotron harmonics in the frequency multiplication regime, providing a much higher efficiency of nonlinear conversion when compared with conventional cylindrical gyrotron schemes. In simulations of a 1-THz planar gyrotron, within the multimode time-domain model, we demonstrate a possibility of kilowatt-level radiation at the second cyclotron harmonic and power of several watts at the third one. The obtained results are partially confirmed based on direct 3-D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are considering the possibility of ultrawideband millimeter-wave generation in microwave oscillators consisting of two coupled helical-waveguide gyro-TWTs, one of which operating as an amplifier whereas the other acting as a saturable absorber or as a nonlinear converter. In the first case, the regime of passive mode-locking is realized when the radiation represents a periodical train of ultrashort electromagnetic pulses. The spectral domain corresponds to the formation of a microwave “frequency comb.” On the other hand, if the second gyro-TWT acts as a nonlinear converter with a fast variation of the phase characteristic, it leads to the generation of chaotic signals with quasi-continuous spectrum and a bandwidth of up to ~10% which is defined by the bandwidth of the gyro-TWTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A double-beam scheme of a short-wavelength gyrotron operating at the second cyclotron harmonic is studied both within the framework of the averaged self-consistent approach and using 3-D particle in cell simulations. The analysis shows that the introduction of an additional generating electron beam allows drastically increasing the operating current of a second-harmonic gyrotron with the simultaneous suppression of self-excitation of spurious modes at the fundamental harmonic. As a result, the radiated power of a double-beam gyrotron exceeds the power of a single-beam gyrotron by a factor of four. The developed concept makes it possible to realize high-power (several hundred watts) single-mode gyrotrons in the 0.7–1.0-THz frequency range. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Two-dimensional distributed feedback is an effective method of producing ultrahigh-power spatially coherent radiation from an active medium, that is spatially extended along two coordinates, including relativistic electron beams with sheet and annular geometry. This paper describes the progress in the investigations of planar and coaxial free-electron masers (FEMs) based on a novel feedback mechanism. The theoretical analysis of these FEM schemes was conducted in the frame of the coupled-wave approach and 3-D simulations and agrees well with the experimental data obtained in "cold" and "hot" tests. As a result, the effective transverse (azimuthal) mode selection has been demonstrated under a transverse size of about 20-25 wavelengths, and narrow-frequency multimegawatt microwave pulses have been generated in the Kaand W-bands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]