Several fundamental challenges of millimeter-to-terahertz electron cyclotron devices

Abstract

It is always an important tendency of the electronic power devices to explore and develop electromagnetic radiation sources operating on higher frequency and with higher power capability. The cyclotron electron device which was developed based on the mechanism of the electron cyclotron maser and with the excellent advantage of radiating high power in millimeter-to-terahertz range was introduced. It systematically discussed about the fundamental challenges encountered by the electron cyclotron devices,including the strong ohmic dissipation problem,the mode competition problem,and the unavoidable dependency on operating with strong magnetic field. Finally,it was proposed that,on the basis of fully exploring the physical mechanism of the mode competition,to develop higher order mode circuit and higher harmonic interaction system would be very helpful to realize the high power,high efficiency and high stability cyclotron electron devices,which is of important reference for guiding devices development towards terahertz band.