On the clinotron effect in a backward-wave tube

The results of a theoretical study of the clinotron effect in a clinotron model, which takes into account static electron trajectories in the focusing magnetic field and the initial spacing between the lower beam boundary and the surface of the slow-wave structure, are presented. Physical processes of interaction between a thick electron beam with transverse dimensions comparable with the length of the slow wave and the RF field at its oblique incidence onto the structure are considered. It is demonstrated that, as the current is increased from the starting to the working value, a beam tilt is necessary to reduce the nonlinear effects of interaction between the beam and the RF field and prevent the complex self-oscillation dynamics in the clinotron; in the small amplitude mode (start), the beam tilt is related to optimization of the beam supply into the interaction space, which ensures the minimum starting current. In addition, it is shown that, in the presence of the initial spacing between the beam and structure, the reduced clinotron efficiency η/С increases and, at the optimum tilt angle, is no less than the normalized efficiency of classical backward-wave tubes with a thin electron beam.