Relativistic performance analysis of a high current density magnetron injection gun

Electron beam quality is essential to the performance of millimeter-wave gyroamplifiers, particularly the gyrotron traveling-wave tube amplifier, which is extremely sensitive to the electron velocity spread and emission uniformity. As one moves up in power and frequency, the quality of the electron beam becomes even more critical. One aspect of the electron beam formation technology which has received relatively little attention has been the performance analysis of the electron beam itself. In this study, a 100 kV, 8 A magnetron injection gun with a calculated perpendicular-to-parallel velocity ratio of 1.4 and axial velocity spread of 3.5% has been designed, tested, and analyzed. It is shown that the equipment precision and a fully relativistic data analysis model afford sufficient resolution to allow a verification of the theoretical predictions as well as a quantitative inference to the surface roughness of the cathode used.