A 150-kW, 450-MHz Gyrocon RF Generator

The output-power and conversion efficiency of the Los Alamos gyrocon were increased by a factor of 150 in the past year. Major improvements in the phase- and amplitude-control system and in understanding the electron multipactor and surface-conditioning processes increased the output power. The highest measured efficiency on this gyrocon is 23%, which was obtained with several combinations of parameters. Both the output power and the efficiency are a factor of 3 below the design values, and several possibilities are being examined to remove the discrepancy between theory and experiment.