Abstract
A theory is developed which describes the effect of the azimuthal inhomogeneity of the electron current on the gyrotron operation. The theory is simplified by using a quasilinear approach, which allows one to study analytically the stability of oscillations in free-running and phase-locked gyrotron oscillators with inhomogeneous current emission. Also the numerical analysis of nonstationary processes in a three-mode gyrotron oscillator is carried out. The results show that, at low currents, the inhomogeneity may cause excitation of additional modes at the frequency of the operating one. At higher currents, one can observe the onset of phase-locked triplets with equidistant frequency spectrum. As the inhomogeneity increases, this enhances the beating effects in such triplets, e.g., the mode amplitudes exhibit some oscillations whose period is inversely proportional to their frequency separation and whose modulation increases with the inhomogeneity in the beam current.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 1029-1036 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Physics of Plasmas |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2001 |
Externally published | Yes |