Microwave growth from the beam breakup instability in long‐pulse electron beam experiments

Abstract

The beam breakup (BBU) instability has been investigated in high‐current, long‐pulse electron beams propagating through microwave cavities. Experiments are performed using a relativistic electron‐beam generator with diode parameters: 0.7–0.8 MV, 1–15 kA, and 0.5–1.5 μs. The magnitude of the solenoidal magnetic field places these experiments in an intermediate regime between strong focusing and weak focusing. The electron‐beam transport system consists of ten identical pillbox cavities each containing a small microwave loop antenna designed to detect the TM110 beam breakup mode. The TM110 microwave mode is primed in the first cavity by a magnetron tuned to the resonance frequency of 2.5 GHz. The BBU instability growth is measured through the amplification of the 2.5 GHz microwaves between the second and tenth cavities. Strong growth (25–38 dB) of the TM110 microwave signal is observed when the initial cavity is primed exactly on resonance, with a rapid decrease of the growth rate off‐resonance. The magnitude of microwave growth is consistent with the predictions of BBU theory.