High-harmonic relativistic gyrotron as an alternative to FEL

A submillimeter wave gyrotron operating at moderately relativistic electron energies of 200-300 keV is proposed as a simple alternative to FEL. It is shown that high pulsed magnetic fields of 20-30 T and selective excitation of separate modes for resonances up to the 5-7 th harmonics will make it possible to obtain in a single device the coherent radiation with broadband frequency step tuning within the whole submillimeter wavelength range. At large pitch angles the coupling of the electron beam with cavity modes at higher harmonics should be as strong as at the fundamental one. In order to check the theoretical predictions, two gyrotrons were designed: LOG-1 (250 kV, 10 A, 10 ms) with a thermionic emission cathode and LOG-2 (350 kV, 35 A, 20 ns) with an explosive emission cathode. (J.U.). 7 refs