Pulsed testing of a CW quasioptical gyrotron for materials processing

Summary form only given. The quasioptical gyrotron (QOG) is under development at the Naval Research Laboratory as a high power source of millimeter-wave radiation. Recent experimental results include the production of up to 150 kW output power with 20% efficiency in 13 /spl mu/sec pulses. A new application of the QOG is the processing of ceramics and other non-metallic materials. High power millimeter-wave radiation offers unique capabilities for the application of coatings, sintering, brazing and soldering, and treatment of polymers. The new experiment is designed to produce 4 kV average power from 75-95 GHz using a 20 kV, 1.5 A DC electron beam. Initial pulsed testing is under way with up to 6 A beam current at 20 kV cathode voltage in 13 /spl mu//sec pulses.