Mode competition, suppression, and efficiency enhancement in overmoded gyrotron oscillators

Gyrotron oscillators are of great interest as sources of high power mm wave radiation for electron cyclotron resonance heating and current drive in magnetic fusion research devices. Gyrotrons capable of efficiently generating cw power ≳ 1 megawatt will be required in future magnetic fusion studies. However, as gyrotron power approaches the megawatt level, a very large, overmoded cavity must be employed in order to keep ohmic power losses in the cavity at an acceptable level, and the problem of mode overpopulation becomes severe. Also, it becomes increasingly important to optimize gyrotron efficiency for a number of important reasons including minimizing the problem of collecting the electron beam energy. In the present paper, a detailed experimental and theoretical study of mode competition and mode locking in an overmoded gyrotron is presented. Efficiency enhancement (to 60%) and high peak power (430 kW) were achieved in the TE_2,4,1 mode using magnetostatic profiling in the cavity. With selective mode suppression, peak power of 475 kW was generated in the TE_0,4,1 mode.