Gyro-TWT with a helical operating waveguide: new possibilities to enhance efficiency and frequency bandwidth

A helical corrugation of the inner surface of an oversized cylindrical waveguide provides, for certain parameters, an almost constant value of group velocity and close to zero longitudinal wavenumber of an eigenwave for a very broad frequency band. The use of such a helical waveguide as an operating section of a gyrotron traveling wave tube (gyro-TWT) allows significant widening of its bandwidth and an increase in the efficiency at very large particle velocity spreads. In this paper, the new concept is confirmed by theoretical analysis and "cold" measurements of the helical waveguide dispersion. Results of a linear and nonlinear theory of the helical gyro-TWT as well as two designs for subrelativistic (80 keV, 20 A) and relativistic (300 keV, 80 A) electron beams are also presented. For both designs, parameters providing a very broad frequency band (about 20%) and high efficiency (above 30%) have been found. When the transverse velocity spread is increased from zero up to a very high value of 40%, simulations showed only a 20%-30% narrowing in the frequency band and a 20% decrease in electron efficiency. The theoretical analysis demonstrates important advantages of the helical gyro-TWT over the "smooth" one in frequency bandwidth, sensitivity to electron velocity spread, and stability to parasitic self-excitation.