Mode competition in a complex cavity for gyrotrons

Abstract

One of the advantages of a complex cavity is the possibility of suppression of parasitic modes by a properly chosen geometry. However, due to nonlinear dynamical effects other modes can be excited and, possibly, ruin the expected advantage mentioned. We study the conditions of self excitation of parasitic modes in the presence of oscillations of the operating mode. Detailed results are presented for a complex cavity with the mode conversion TE03/TE06 planned for the KfK experiment.