Modulated cusp electron gun for millimeter-wave gyro-amplifiers

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Donaldson, Craig R. and Zhang, Liang and Robertson, Craig W. and Ronald, Kevin and Whyte, Colin G.; (2025) Modulated cusp electron gun for millimeter-wave gyro-amplifiers. In: 2025 26th International Vacuum Electronics Conference (IVEC). IEEE, NLD, pp. 1-2. ISBN 9798350380019 (https://doi.org/10.1109/ivec63678.2025.11115784)

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Abstract

The design and optimization of a gridded cusp electron gun for millimeter wave gyro-amplifiers is reported. Development of gyro-amplifiers operating in the millimetre wave band in recent years has shown great progress from designs using periodically loaded waveguides driven by MIG type electron beams using a modulating anode. Gyro-travelling wave amplifiers using helically corrugated interaction regions, however, favour the use of a large-orbit, axis-encircling electron beam. These devices have shown less progress, at least partially because the cusp electron gun required to produce an axis-encircling electron beam is less well understood and only cathode-modulated operation has been demonstrated. In this paper, we show that optimization of the cathode, anode, and control electrode geometries as-well-as the profile of the magnetic field can result in a high-quality electron beam. The optimized electron gun operated at 60 kV with a current of 1.8 A and <10% alpha spread.

ORCID iDs

Donaldson, Craig R. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6627-2461, Zhang, Liang ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6317-0395, Robertson, Craig W. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3552-466X, Ronald, Kevin ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8585-0746 and Whyte, Colin G. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5431-2443;
  • Item type:Book Section
    ID code:93996
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    19 August 2025
    Published
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:29 Aug 2025 11:26
    Last modified:23 Jul 2026 07:52
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/93996
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