Influence of sideband oscillations on gyrotron efficiency

We report the observation of sideband mode effects on the efficiency of overmoded gyrotron operation. Two cavities were designed and operated which differed in the presence of sideband modes. In one version of the cavity, parasitic backward waves modes were observed and efficiencies were approximately 22% at 40 A beam current. With the use of a multi-mode self-consistent nonlinear code, a modified design was generated which eliminated the sideband modes. Experiments were conducted with this new cavity which produced efficiencies of approximately 33% at 30 A and 27% at 40 A beam current, but with a slightly higher velocity ratio than seen with the earlier cavity. An additional cavity, also with no sideband modes but with a longer cavity length and therefore higher Q obtained powers up to 1.3 MW with an efficiency of 39% at a 40 A beam current