HIGHLY EFFCIENT QUASI-OPTICAL MODE CONVERTER SYSTEM

FOR A 1 MW, 140 GHZ, CW GYROTRON

M. Thumm 1, 2, A. Arnold 1, 2, G.Dammertz1, G. Michel 3, J. Pretterebner 4, D.Wagner 5, X.Yang 1

1Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Association EURATOM-FZK,
Institut fuer Hochleistungsimpuls- und Mikrowellentechnik, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany

2 Universitaet Karlsruhe, Institut fuer Hoechstfrequenztechnik und Elektronik, Kaiserstr. 12, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany

3Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik,Teilinstitut Greifswald, Association EURATOM-IPP,

Wendelsteinstr. 1, 17491 Greifswald, Germany

4DaimlerChrysler AG, 70546 Stuttgart, Germany

5 Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, Association EURATOM-IPP, Boltzmannstr.2, 85748 Garching, Germany

e-mail: manfred.thumm@ihm.fzk.de

Current high power gyrotrons employ an internal quasi-optical mode converter to extract the rotating high-order cavity mode into a linearly polarized fundamental Gaussian beam. Conversion efficiencies close to unity are required since trapped RF energy jeopardizes the stable operation regime and may lead to heating of the inner tube structure. For a 1 MW continuous wave (CW) gyrotron operated in the TE28,8 mode at 140 GHz, in order to achieve a usable fundamental Gaussian distribution of the output beam with very low diffraction losses, a highly efficient quasi-optical mode converter system with several novel features has been designed and tested at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (FZK).

The launcher employs an irregular cylindrical waveguide section (perturbations of the waveguide surface) followed by a helical-cut launching aperture. The purpose of the pre-bunching section is to obtain a mode mixture in the launching waveguide such that the field intensity on the wall has a Gaussian profile. In addition, the mean radius of the launcher section is slightly up-tapered with     R(z) = 21.9 mm +0.004 z. This configuration reduces the Q factor of the section between the cavity and the helical cut, and suppresses spurious oscillations generated by the spent electron beam in the launcher section. The helical Dm1 = 1 and Dm2 = 3 wall perturbations for the longitudinal and azimuthal field bunching, respectively, use the same amplitude of 0.041 mm and perturbation length  of 70 mm (with 10 mm tapering), but they start at different positions along the z-axis of the launcher. The  Dm1  = 1 perturbation  is between z  = 0 mm  and z  = 70 mm, the Dm2  = 3 perturbation between z = 17 mm and    z = 87 mm. The helical cut begins at z = 160 mm. The coupled mode theory has been used to optimize the operation of the pre-bunching waveguide. The fields radiated from the cut of the launcher are calculated by the scalar diffraction integral. The calculated radiation pattern on the aperture of the launcher shows that

the dimple-wall launcher can generate a well-focused Gaussian radiation pattern with low diffraction losses.  

One quasi-elliptical mirror and two toroidal mirrors can be used as the beam-forming mirror system to obtain a desired beam pattern at the gyrotron output window. The positions and the orientations of the mirrors are found by evaluating the moments of the first and second order of the power distribution. This design technique requires knowledge of both the amplitude and the phase distribution of the input beam and the desired output beam. The design procedure incorporates a fast scalar diffraction code for a nonparallel aperture, which allows for a rapid synthesis of the mirror profiles. Including this beam-forming system, the calculated power density distribution on the gyrotron window agrees well with the desired fundamental Gaussian distribution. Further calculations of power conservation show that an efficiency of more than 98% has been achieved.

A low power test facility has been built to check the performance of the quasi-optical mode converter system. The transmission measurement device consists of a network analyser, a low power TE28,8 mode generator, the gyrotron mode converter-system as device under test, and a pick-up antenna to measure the E-field distribution in a defined linear polarization (horizontal and vertical). The E-field distribution is investigated at the output flange of the mode generator; and for the quasi-optical mode converter, at the position where the gyrotron output window is located. The pick-up antenna is fixed on a programmed 3-dimentional movable table in order to scan the distribution at an arbitrary position. Low power measurement results of the launcher and the beam-forming mirror system show that the beam patterns agree well with the theoretical predictions.