Efficiency of gyrotrons with a tapered magnetic field in the regime of soft self-excitation

As a rule, gyrotron operation with high efficiency is realized in the regime of hard self-excitation that requires a special start-up scenario: either a tuning of the external magnetic field or providing certain relations between mod-anode and beam voltages. This paper describes a study of gyrotron operation in slightly tapered external magnetic fields. It is shown how the use of tapered magnetic fields affects the maximum efficiency realizable in hard and soft excitation regimes. First, a model of gyrotron with the Gaussian axial profile of the resonator field is studied. Then, a similar treatment is done for a realistic resonator designed for a 140 GHz Karlsruhe Institute for Technology gyrotron. Published by AIP Publishing.