Improvement of the Output Mode Purity of a Complex-Cavity Resonator for a Frequency-Tunable Sub-THz Gyrotron

One way to improve the mode selection in terahertz gyrotrons is the use of stepped cavity resonators that satisfy the resonance condition for two modes with the same azimuthal but different radial indices. Such sectioned resonators, or complex cavities, were analyzed in detail by several authors, recently and in the past. One common problem for such designs is the excitation of unwanted modes by both the stepped cavity structure and the cavity input and output tapers. Mode conversion becomes especially a severe problem for higher-order resonant modes in highly oversized resonators. In this article, we introduce ways to minimize the unwanted mode conversion in both the radial step of the cavity as well as in the tapered sections of the cavity and the up-taper to the collector and output window. Frequency tuning between 391.5 and 393.5 GHz has been achieved by operation at different axial mode numbers of the mode pair TE
_8,4
/TE
_8,5
. Due to their intrinsic higher output mode purity, the so-called antiphase modes of the complex cavity have been chosen for this output mode purity study.