Operational Characteristics of the NRL Gyroklystron Amplifier

The high-energy physics community is considering the development of 1 TeV accelerators. Size and cost of such devices can be greatly reduced by operating at 10 GHz. Present tube technology seems incapable of meeting the power requirements at this frequency. A strong candidate for a drive tube to meet these requirements is a gyroklystron amplifier (GKA) due to its high gain, efficiency and power capabilities. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is presently conducting GKA research to evaluate their performance characteristics. Operation of a 54 kW, 30% efficient, 4.5 GHz 3-cavity GKA is described. Experiments to evaluate the effects on the output phase of varying drive voltage, beam current, magnetic field and drive power and to examine phase-locked oscillator performance are discussed. The results of present GKA experiments serve to emphasize the applicability of the GKA to the next generation of linear accelerators.