Beam-Wave Interaction from FEL to CARM and Associated Scaling Laws

The development of a microwave tube providing high output power (1 MW) at a high frequency (250 GHz) with high efficiency of the beam-wave power conversion is a challenging task. A great deal of theoretical and experimental efforts is directed toward such a goal. A promising powerful source of microwave radiation is the cyclotron autoresonance maser (CARM) oscillator. In this paper, we revisit the well-known physical models in a way, which is suitable for their implementation in the numerical tools for computer-aided design and optimization of a CARM operating at high frequency. The analysis developed by us is an attempt directed toward the realization of an adequate design tool for the development of CARM devices. © 1963-2012 IEEE.