A TWO-STREAM PLASMA ELECTRON MICROWAVE SOURCE FOR HIGH POWER MILLIMETER WAVE GENERATION

A NOVEL HIGH POWER MILLIMETER/MICROWAVE SOURCE IS PROPOSED IN WHICH TWO INTERPENETRATING STREAMS OF ELECTRONS, FLOWING THROUGH A BACKGROUND PLASMA IN A STATIC MAGNETIC FIELD ARE USED TO GENERATE A HOT-ELECTRON PLASMA THAT IS CONFINED IN A MIRROR-LIKE MAGNETIC FIELD IN THE FORM OF A FOLDED-CUSP MAGNETIC CONFIGURATION. ENERGY STORED IN THE ANISOTROPIC, HOT-ELECTRON PLASMA IS THEN USED TO AMPLIFY UNSTABLE PLASMA WAVES TO LARGE AMPLITUDE BY SELECTIVE DEACTIVATION OF MECHANISMS THAT STABILIZE THE HOT-ELECTRON PLASMA DURING THE ENERGY ACCUMULATION PHASE WHEN THE DENSITY OF HOT ELECTRONS IS RAPIDLY INCREASED THROUGH THE BEAM-PLASMA INTERACTIONS. THE PHASE I PROGRAM WILL YIELD A DESIGN FOR AN EXPERIMENTAL DEVICE CAPABLE OF VERIFYING THE KEY ASPECTS OF THIS NOVEL SOURCE CONCEPT, AS WELL AS A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR INTERPRETING THE EMPIRICAL PHASE II RESULTS PRODUCED BY THE EXPERIMENTAL DEVICE AND EXTRAPOLATING THOSE RESULTS TO EVALUATE THE SUITABILITY OF THE PROPOSED SOURCE TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF VARIOUS HIGH POWER MICROWAVE AND MILLIMETER WAVE DEFENSE AND INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS.