Realization of high efficiency in a plasma-assisted microwave source with two-dimensional electron motion

Conventional microwave sources utilize a strong axial magnetic field to guide an electron beam through an interaction region. A plasma-assisted slow wave microwave oscillator (Pasotron) can operate without an external magnetic field because the presence of ions neutralizes the space charge in the beam, permits the self-pinch forces to provide beam propagation, and allows for the radial motion of electrons under the action of transverse fields of the wave. While the inherent efficiency of conventional microwave sources with 1D electron flow is limited to 15%–20%, it is shown in this work that both the calculated and measured inherent efficiency of devices with 2D electron flow can be higher than 50%. Both in situ diagnostics and analysis confirmed that the enhanced efficiency is due to the fact that rf forces dominate the beam dynamics.