Dependence of the gyrotron efficiency on the azimuthal index of non-symmetric modes

Abstract

Development of MW-class gyrotrons for future controlled fusion reactors requires careful analysis of the stability of high efficiency operation in very high-order modes. In the present paper, this problem is analyzed in the framework of the non-stationary self-consistent theory of gyrotrons. Two approaches are used: the one based on the wave envelope representation of the resonator field and the second one based on representation of this field as a superposition of eigenmodes, whose fields are determined by a self-consistent set of equations. It is shown that at relatively low beam currents, when the maximum efficiency can be realized in the regime of soft self-excitation, the operation in the desired mode is stable even in the case of a very dense spectrum of competing modes. At higher currents, the maximum efficiency can be realized in the regimes with hard self-excitation; here the operation in the desired mode can be unstable because of the presence of some competing modes with low start currents. Two 170 GHz European gyrotrons for the international thermonuclear experimental reactor are considered as examples. In the first one, which is the 2 MW gyrotron with a coaxial resonator, the stability of operation in a chosen TE34,19-mode in the presence of two sideband modes with almost equidistant spectrum is analyzed and the region of magnetic fields in which the oscillations of the central mode are stable is determined. The operation of the second gyrotron, which is the 1 MW gyrotron with a cylindrical cavity currently under development in Europe, is studied by using the wave envelope approach. It is shown that high efficiency operation of this gyrotron in the TE32,9-mode should be stable.