Experimental study from linear to chaotic regimes on a terahertz-frequency gyrotron oscillator

Basic wave-particle interaction dynamics from linear to chaotic regimes is experimentally studied on a frequency tunable gyrotron generating THz radiation in continuous mode (200 W) at 263 GHz which will be used for dynamic nuclear polarization nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy applications. In the studied system, the nonlinear dynamics associated to the wave-particle interaction is dominated by longitudinal mode competition of a given transverse TEm,p cavity-mode. This study covers a wide range of control parameter from gyro-traveling wave tube (gyro-TWT) to gyro-backward wave oscillator (gyro-BWO) like interactions for which extensive theoretical studies have been performed in the past on a simplified system. Besides the common route to chaos characterized by period doubling, other routes have been identified among which some are characterized by line-width frequency-broadening on the side-bands. The complex nonlinear dynamics is in good agreement with the theory and the experimental results are discussed on the basis of the prediction obtained with the nonlinear time-dependent self-consistent codes TWANG and EURIDICE both based on a slow-time scale formulation of the self-consistent equations governing the wave-particle dynamics.