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High-power terahertz gyrotrons always operate at high-order modes to avoid damage from Ohmic heating. However, the spectral densities of these modes are very high, especially when gyrotrons operate at high-order harmonics. Therefore, the self-excitation condition can be satisfied for several modes simultaneously. Correspondingly, in order to determine which mode will be excited first in the designed terahertz gyrotron, the starting currents of competing modes should be calculated more accurately to predict the operating status. In this paper, an existing linear theory is generalized to take into account the influences of the field profile, finite beam thickness, and velocity spread. Starting currents are calculated for the operating and the most dangerous competing mode in a 0.42-THz second harmonic gyrotron with a complex cavity, which is recently under development at the Terahertz Science and Technology Research Center. The calculations show that the radial and velocity spreads play a critical role in the starting current and prove that the measured output terahertz radiation in the designed device is generated from the interaction between the desired mode and the electron beam.

Gyrotron oscillators are one of promising sources to generate high power terahertz radiation. To achieve high power at high frequency, gyrotrons have to operate at high order modes to alleviate the problem of wall heating and the miniaturization of interaction structures at these frequencies. Due to high order modes, the mode spectrum is very dense and the electron beam is likely to interact with several modes. Mode competition is a major hurdle in achieving stable and efficient operation of a gyrotron at cyclotron harmonics. The gradually tapered complex cavity could suppress mode competition by locking a pair of operating modes in two single cavities. Starting from the general transmission line equations with an electron beam, self-consistent nonlinear simulations on the second harmonic complex cavity gyrotron operating at 0.42 THz are presented. The influences of the electron beam parameters on the interaction efficiency are analyzed. The experimental results show that the designed complex cavity gyrotron is operationally stable at TE 17.4 with pulse output power of 22.25 kW when the beam current is 4.8 A, beam voltage is 45 kV, and applied magnetic field is 8.185 T. The corresponding frequency and interaction efficiency are 421.60 GHz and 10.27%, respectively.

Pigment epithelial-derived factor (PEDF) is a multifunctional secreted glycoprotein, which exerts a variety of physiological activities. PEDF may protect against hypoxia-induced cell death associated with its antioxidative effects and p53 mitochondrial translocation in cultured cardiomyocytes and H9c2 cells. Additionally, previous studies have suggested that autophagy is an important cell survival mechanism. However, the effect of PEDF on autophagy and the associated pathway in hypoxic H9c2 cells has not been fully established. Autophagy has been reported to regulate lipid metabolism; however, little is known about whether PEDF is able to regulate lipid metabolism by promoting autophagy. In the present study, western blotting results revealed that PEDF increased the level of microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 (LC3)-II. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and LC3 fluorescence demonstrated that PEDF increased the number of autophagosomes. PEDF also increased the viability of hypoxic H9c2 cells and decreased the level of cleaved caspase-3 protein, as evidenced by CCK-8 assays and western blotting, respectively. TEM and a triglyceride assay kit demonstrated that PEDF-induced autophagy may stimulate lipid degradation. Western blotting results revealed a novel mechanism underlying PEDF-induced H9c2 cell autophagy via the PEDF-R-mediated Atg5 pathway under hypoxic conditions. Furthermore, the results also suggest that PEDF-induced autophagy may stimulate lipid degradation. The survival function of autophagy suggests that modulation of PEDF-induced autophagy may be used as a therapeutic strategy to protect cells against lipid-associated metabolic diseases.

The prevention and management of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MI/R) injury is an essential part of coronary heart disease surgery and is becoming a major clinical problem in the treatment of ischemic heart disease. Previous studies by our group have demonstrated that pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) improves cardiac function in rats with acute myocardial infarction and reduces hypoxia-induced cell injury. However, the protective function and mechanisms underlying the effect of PEDF in MI/R injury remain to be fully understood. In the present study, the positive effect of PEDF in MI/R injury was confirmed by construction of the adult Sprague-Dawley rat MI/R model. PEDF reduced myocardial infarct size and downregulated cardiomyocyte apoptosis in the I/R myocardium in this model. In addition, PEDF improved cardiac function and increased cardiac functional reserve in rats subjected to MI/R Injury. To further study the protective effect of PEDF and the underlying mechanisms in MI/R injury, a H9c2 cardiomyocyte hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) model was constructed. PEDF was confirmed to decrease H/R-induced apoptosis in H9c2 cells, and this anti-apoptotic function was abolished by pigment epithelium-derived factor-receptor (PEDF R) small interfering (si)RNA. Furthermore, administration of PEDF decreased the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in H/R H9c2 cells. Compared with the H/R group, PEDF decreased mitochondrial ROS, increased the mitochondrial DNA copy number, reduced xanthine oxidase and NADPH oxidase activity, as well as RAC family small GTPase 1 protein expression. However, these effects of PEDF were markedly attenuated by PEDF-R siRNA. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to identify the protective effect of PEDF in MI/R injury, and confirm that the antioxidative effect PEDF occurred via inhibition of ROS generation via PEDF-R under MI/R conditions.

Pigment epithelial-derived factor (PEDF) is known to exert diverse physiological activities. Previous studies suggest that hypoxia could induce mitophagy. Astoundingly, under hypoxic condition, we found that PEDF decreased the mitochondrial density of cardiomyocytes. In this study, we evaluated whether PEDF could decrease the mitochondrial density and play a protective role in hypoxic cardiomyocytes via promoting mitophagy. Immunostaining and western blotting were used to analyze mitochondrial density and mitophagy of hypoxic cardiomyocytes. Gas chromatography‑mass spectrometry and ELISA were used to analyze levels of palmitic acid and diacylglycerol. Transmission Electron Microscopy was used to detect mitophagy and the mitochondrial density in adult male Sprague-Dawley rat model of acute myocardial infarction. Compared to the control group, we observed that PEDF decreased mitochondrial density through promoting hypoxic cardiomyocyte mitophagy. PEDF increased the levels of palmitic acid and diacylglycerol, and then upregulated the levels of protein kinase Cα (PKC-α) and its activation. Furthermore, inhibition of PKC-α by Go6976 could effectively suppress PEDF-induced mitophagy. Besides, we found that PEDF promoted FUNDC1-mediated cardiomyocyte mitophagy via ULK1, which depended on the activation of PKC-α. Finally, we discovered that mitophagy was increased and mitochondrial density was reduced in adult male Sprague-Dawley rat model of acute myocardial infarction. We concluded that PEDF promotes mitophagy to protect hypoxic cardiomyocytes, through PEDF/PEDF-R/PA/DAG/PKC-α/ULK1/FUNDC1 pathway.

The problem of mode competition can present a major hurdle for gyrotron to achieve stable and efficient operation, especially when the gyrotron operates at electron cyclotron harmonics. Therefore, an effective theoretical investigation of the mode competition is an essential first step to the implementation of gyrotron. In this paper, the nonlinear dynamics of the mode competition in the terahertz gyrotron operating at high-order mode are studied using a multifrequency time-dependent model. Based on the model, the simulations of mode competition in the designed gyrotron are presented by the corresponding code. The influence of the velocity spread on the mode competition is also studied. The simulations tracking five competing modes show that stable excitation of the second harmonic oscillation can be realized with a proper choice of the operation parameters. The results show that a single-mode second harmonic radiation with a power of over 120 kW at a frequency of 0.4 THz could be achieved.

A double anode magnetron injection gun (MIG) for a 0.42 THz second harmonic gyrotron has been presented in this paper. Through design, simulation and optimization by the particle-in-cell code, a double-anode electron gun with maximum transverse velocity spread of 3.19 % is obtained, the beam acceleration voltage is 50 kV, operating current is 5.5 A and the ratio of the transverse velocity to the axial velocity is equal to 1.4. A comprehensive analysis of MIG for 0.42 THz second harmonic gyrotron is presented, and the designed electron gun well satisfies the requirement of the 0.42 THz gyrotron.

In this paper, the results of theoretical study on a 0.4-THz second harmonic gyrotron operating at TE19.3 are presented. A gradually tapered cavity is adopted to alleviate the problem of parasitic mode competition. It is proved that the amplitudes of spurious modes in the gradually tapered cavity could be kept lower than that in the line-joint cavity, especially that in the line-joint cavity with large angle. Based on the self-consistent nonlinear theory, a code is written to simulate the process of beam–wave interaction. Through optimizing the operating parameters, the beam–wave interaction efficiency can reach 35% and an output power of 100 kW can be obtained. In addition, the mode competition in the designed gyrotron is studied using multifrequency time-dependent nonlinear theory. Simulations tracking five competition modes show that stable excitation of the desired operating mode TE19.3 at 100 kW level can be realized with proper choice of operating parameters.

Confocal gyrotron traveling-wave tube (gyro-TWT) is a novel gyrotron amplifier capable of operating in higher order modes while generating high power at the same time. So far, confocal gyro-TWT has been studied by MIT both in theory and experiment at 140 GHz. In this paper, a center frequency of 170-GHz $\mathrm{TE}_{06}$ -mode confocal gyro-TWT is designed theoretically, and it features high power and broadband capabilities. Theoretical investigation predicts that, when the magnetic injection gun is optimized to generate an electron beam of 65 kV, current of 7 A, with a pitch factor of 1.2, this gyro-TWT is of an excellent performance. At a given operating magnetic field of 6.11 T, with an input power of 10 W, a saturated gain of at least 30 dB, 3-dB bandwidth of over 4 GHz and highest efficiency of 17.1% are achieved.

A Denisov launcher operating at 420 GHz with TE17,4 mode is designed and optimized through theoretical analysis and numerical simulations. The launcher consists of a mode converted waveguide and a helical cut. Instead of using the conventional perturbations, a sinusoid type perturbation is used in this converted waveguide. Operations of the launcher are analyzed by the coupled mode theory. The field at the output aperture of the launcher has a nice Gaussian profile distribution. The conversion efficiency is more than 98.1 %. The parasitic modes in the launcher and the aperture field profile were analyzed. The wall field of the launcher is analyzed in case that the input wave is rotating left-hand. A full 3D electromagnetic field analysis of the integrated launcher has been done. The results are in good agreement with the numerical calculation results.

Confocal gyrotron traveling wave tube (gyro-TWT) is a novel gyrotron amplifier capable of operating in higher order modes while generating high power at the same time. Confocal gyro-TWT suppresses lower-order modes at the cost of reduction of efficiency. According to the characteristics of confocal system, in this paper, we theoretically design a special magnetron injection gun (MIG) for a 170 GHz confocal gyro-TWT, and then compare it with the traditional MIG. The efficiency is found to be as high as 33 %, deservedly higher than the traditional less than 10 %. The output power increases trebly accordingly.

The mode competition and beam wave interaction in a gradually tapered cavity are studied for achieving high efficiency of a 0.6-THz second harmonic (SH) gyrotron. In order to obtain high power and stable radiation, the TE32,5 mode is selected as the operating mode of the desired gyrotron to realize a single-mode oscillation. The issues of studying the high-order mode gyrotron are solved effectively by transforming the generalized telegraphist's equations. The efficiency and the output power of the gyrotron under different conditions have been calculated by the code, which is based on the transformed equations. The results show that a single-mode SH radiation with a power of over 100 kW at frequency of 0.6 THz could be achieved.

In this paper, a coaxial resonator with inner-outer corrugation is studied. By the surface impedance theory, its eigenequation is derived; by the energy balance equation, its ohmic quality factor is obtained. Research shows that for a coaxial resonator with outer, inner, and inner-outer corrugation, slot depth can influence eigenvalue, ohmic quality factor, and wall loading loss in comparison with coaxial smoothing resonator; in the region of eigencurve with positive slope, ohmic quality factor, and wall loading loss of outer slot bottom attain the minimum. However, wall loading loss of inner slot bottom attains the maximum and wall loading loss of inner slot bottom is larger than one of outer slot bottom. These results can help us to research mode selection and mode competition of coaxial resonator with inner-outer corrugation.

In the paper, according to Eigen equation of coaxial resonator with inner-outer corrugation, its Eigen value is researched by numerical calculation method. Results find that outer slot width and outer slot depth on the outer conductor have greater influence on characteristic value on the whole, respectively. Slope angles of input and output part of outer conductor and of inner conductor have influence on Eigen value in local region of the resonator. However, inner slot width and depth on the inner conductor have slightly influence on Eigen value. These results can help us to research the rest properties of coaxial resonator with inner-outer corrugation.

The open sides of confocal waveguide diffract the spurious modes and operating mode at the same time. The operating mode must be converted to Gaussian mode to avoid transmission loss during a long transmission length. The transmission loss was analyzed and a simple output coupler was designed to convert the confocal TE 06 mode to circular TE 03 mode in this paper.

The gyrotron has been demonstrated to be an efficient, high power source of terahertz radiation. However, one of the main obstacles in achieving stable, efficient operation at the cyclotron harmonics in a gyrotron is mode competition with lower harmonic modes. Therefore a theoretical investigation of mode competition is an essential first step to the implementation of gyrotron. In this article, the nonlinear dynamics of mode competition in 0.4 THz gyrotron with gradually tapered complex cavity are studied by using multifrequency, time-dependent theory. The results show that the operating modes TE 17.3 –TE 17.4 can be stably excited and the output power can reach over 130 kW.

A double anode magnetron injected gun (MIG) for a terahertz (THz) band cyclotron oscillation tube has been presented in this paper. Through design, simulation and optimization by the particle-in-cell (PIC) code, a double-anode electron gun with trans-velocity spread of 3.19% is obtained, and the ratio of the transverse velocity to the axial velocity is equal to 1.4. The designed electron gun well satisfies the requirement of the 0.4 THz gyrotron.

In the experiments of a 420 GHz second-harmonic gyrotron, it is found that the electron beam voltage and current ranges for single mode operation of TE17.4 are slightly narrower than those in the simulation. To explain this phenomenon, the startup scenario has been investigated with special emphasis on mode competition. The calculations indicate that the decreases of the operating ranges are caused by the voltage overshoot in the startup scenario.

Recently, a 0.42 THz second-harmonic gyrotron with complex cavity has been investigated and measured in the Terahertz Research Center. The experimental results show that the designed gyrotron can operate stably at the candidate mode TE−17.4 with the pulsed power of 19.3 kW, corresponding to an efficiency of 8.6%. However, the measured output power and efficiency are much lower than the theoretical values. In this paper, the influences of beam quality and Ohmic loss on the beam-wave interaction in the designed complex-cavity gyrotron are analyzed explicitly by a nonlinear, time-dependent, multi-mode code. The numerical simulations show that in the low-beam-voltage region, the calculated powers perfectly fit with the experimental results when the electron beam width is 0.195 mm, the electron velocity spread is 6% and the Ohmic quality factor of TE−17.4 is about 75000. Meanwhile it is also found that competing modes are well suppressed although considering the beam quality and Ohmic loss, which reproduces the experimental observation of the high-power single-mode oscillation of the TE−17.4 mode as the design mode.

A device-specified in-house code for gyrotron simulation is reported. By assuming that the gyrotron being in the steady oscillation state, the beam-wave interaction in the gyrotron cavity can be approximated by the telegraphist's equations together with the Lorentz force equations. Then, by incorporating cut-off and open boundary conditions at the input and output ends of the cavity separately, the above differential equations can be solved numerically. This algorithm is more computational efficient than the Particle-In-Cell (PIC) approach in theory. The self-developed code is then verified by the agreement with 3D PIC code.

In this paper, the nonlinear dynamics of mode competition in the complex cavity gyrotron are studied by using multi-frequency, time-dependent theory with the cold-cavity longitudinal profile approximation. Based on the theory, a code is written to simulate the mode competition in the gradually tapered complex cavity gyrotron operating at second harmonic oscillation. The simulations tracking seven competition modes show that single mode oscillation of the desired mode TE17.4 at 150 kW level can be expected with proper choice of operating parameters. Through studying on mode competition, it is proved that the complex cavity has a good capability for suppressing the mode competition. Meanwhile, it is found that TE17.3 could be excited in the first cavity as a competition mode when the gyrotron operating at large beam current, which leads to that TE17.3 and TE17.4 with different frequencies can coexist stably in the complex cavity gyrotron with very close amplitudes. Thus, the complex cavity might be used for...

In this paper, a coaxial resonator with longitudinal inner-outer corrugation is introduced. Its eigen-equation and expression of ohmic losses are derived. Ohmic losses in the cavity are investigated. Results show that ohmic losses in the outer and inner conductors share a similar variation trend, while the former is larger than the later. What's more, changes of the inner and outer slot depth and width induce different variations of ohmic losses on the surface of the inner and outer conductors.