Abstract
Harmonic multiplying gyrotron traveling-wave amplifiers (gyro-TWAs) allow for magnetic field reduction and frequency multiplication. To avoid absolute instabilities, this work proposes a W-band harmonic multiplying gyro-TWA operating at low-order modes. By amplifying a fundamental harmonic TE 11 drive wave, the second harmonic component of the beam current initiates a TE 21 wave to be amplified. Absolute instabilities in the gyro-TWA are suppressed by shortening the interaction circuit and increasing wall losses. Simulation results reveal that compared with Ka-band gyro-TWTs, the lower wall losses effectively suppress absolute instabilities in the W-band gyro-TWA. However, a global reflective oscillation occurs as the wall losses decrease. Increasing the length or resistivity of the lossy section can reduce the feedback of the oscillation to stabilize the amplifier. The W-band harmonic multiplying gyro-TWA is predicted to yield a peak output power of 111 kW at 98 GHz with an efficiency of 25%, a saturated gain of 26 dB, and a bandwidth of 1.6 GHz for a 60 kV, 7.5 A electron beam with an axial velocity spread of 8%. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.