Preliminary Study of a G-Band Extended Interaction Oscillator Operating in the TM31-3π Mode Driven by Pseudospark-Sourced Multiple Electron Beams

Abstract

This paper presents the first design that combines pseudospark-sourced (PS) electron beams with a multiple-beam extended interaction oscillator (EIO). The PS electron beam is an excellent choice for driving EIOs because it has high current density and does not require a focusing magnetic field. The EIO with coaxial structure adopts the method of multiple electron beams, which plays a crucial role in improving the average output power. At the same frequency, the EIO operating in the high-order TM31-3π mode has a larger cavity size than the EIO operating in the traditional TM01-2π mode. The high-order TM31-3π mode solves the problem of the EIO’s manufacture at high frequency. In order to verify the above points, a G-band PS multiple-beam EIO operating in TM31-3π mode has been designed. The beam–wave interaction particle-in-cell simulation results show that the EIO’s peak output power is 39.2 kW at 217 GHz, and that its efficiency is around 6.1%. The EIO with six pencil beams operates at a voltage of 43 kV. The total current of the six electron beams is 15 A (equally distributed among the six beams), and the corresponding current density is about 5000 A/cm2. Considering the ohmic loss and the effect of skin depth, the conductivity used in these simulations is 2 × 107 S/m. The design is an excellent way to improve the output power of EIO operating at high frequency.