On the possibility of harmonic operation of cyclotron wave parametric amplifiers

Abstract

Cyclotron wave amplifiers at the harmonics of the electron cyclotron frequency are investigated. Since the waves on the beam are electrostatic, harmonics are strongly excited in nonrelativistic beams if they are rotating rather than filamentary. These modes at the harmonics can couple to input Cuccia couplers, and pump fields which drive parametric amplification, in very much the same way as they do on filamentary beams at the cyclotron frequency. Harmonic cyclotron wave amplifiers have the possibility of giving rise to a new class of devices at millimeter wave frequencies.