The results of experimental investigation of two Ka-band gyrotron traveling-wave tube (gyro-TWT) amplifiers with helically corrugated waveguides are presented. The first tube produces pulsed output power of 130-160 kW within the frequency range of 33.1-35.5 GHz and is capable of operating with a 10% duty factor. Reliability of its major components in the high average power operation regime (about 10 kW) was proven in a continuous-wave (CW) experiment. The second gyro-TWT amplifier delivered CW power of up to 7.7 kW with −3-dB bandwidth of 2.6 GHz and −1-dB bandwidth of 2.1 GHz. Effective implementation of single-stage depressed collectors (to the best of our knowledge, for the first time for gyro-TWTs) enabled the electron efficiencies as high as 36% for the pulsed tube and 33% for the CW tube to be achieved at operation at the second cyclotron harmonic.

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Coherent subterahertz radiation is achieved in an electron cyclotron maser (large-orbit gyrotron configuration) operating at a higher cyclotron harmonic in the continuous-wave generation regime. This auto-oscillator is based on the use of a gun with a magnetic field cusp and a section for adiabatic magnetic compression with a factor of 1000, forming a 30 keV/0.7 A axis-encircling electron beam in a magnetic field of 5 T. A stable single-mode generation is achieved in the case of operation at the third and second cyclotron harmonics at frequencies of 0.394 THz and 0.267 THz with radiation powers of 0.37 kW and 0.9 kW, respectively.

We present the results of the experiments on a continuous-wave gyrotron with an output frequency of about 260 GHz, which has been developed for dynamic polarization of nuclei and is operated at the second cyclotron-frequency harmonic. For an accelerating voltage of 16 kV and a beam current of 0.3 A, a maximum continuous-wave radiation power of about 200 W has been obtained. Measurements of the thermal load on the resonator cavity allow evaluating its actual ohmic Qfactor. Gyrotron radiation is also observed at other frequencies and modes. Their generation zones and the structure of the output radiation have been studied. Long-term stability of gyrotron parameters has been determined.