Progress In Electromagnetics Research, PIER 95, 1938, 2009

THE ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION OF A

PRE-BUNCHED FREE ELECTRON MASER
F. Malek
Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP)
School of Computer and Communication Engineering
No. 12 & 14, Jalan Satu, Taman Seberang Jaya Fasa 3
Kuala Perlis 02000, Perlis, Malaysia
J. Lucas and Y. Huang
Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics
The University of Liverpool
Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L69 3GJ, United Kingdom
AbstractWe are developing prototype free electron maser (FEM)
that is compact, tuneable and efficient for potential industrial use.
Therefore we define the characteristics for the construction of a
novel X-band rectangular waveguide pre-bunched free electron maser
(PFEM). Our device operates at 10 GHz and employs two rectangular
waveguide cavities (one for velocity modulation and the other for
energy extraction). The electron beam used in this experiment is
produced by thermionic electron gun which can operate at 3 kV and
up to 5 mA. The resonant cavity consists of a thin gap section of
height 1.5 mm which reduces the beam energy required for beam
wave interaction. The prototype design, engineering and construction
process are reported in this paper.

1. INTRODUCTION
The free electron maser (FEM) is a source of microwave power
which makes use of the interaction between the electron beam and
electromagnetic radiation [1]. The conventional free electron laser
(FEL) consists of three main components: an electron beam in vacuum,
a magnetic wiggler or undulator, which stimulates the electron to
emit radiation and an optical cavity formed by two mirrors, which
Corresponding author: F. Malek ([email protected]).

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Malek, Lucas, and Huang

contains and builds up the radiation. In our project, the radiation is

at microwave frequencies, therefore, the mirrors will be replaced by a
resonant waveguide cavity, and the term free electron maser (FEM) is
used.
When an electron passes through the wiggler magnet it oscillates
from side to side. The electron radiates an electromagnetic wave but at
a higher frequency than the wiggler frequency. The electron radiates
almost uniformly from one end of the wiggler to the other and the
resulting wave packet contains only a finite number of oscillations [2].
The wave packet has an almost square envelope. Hence its Fourier
transform results to a sinc2 intensity spectrum. This is called the
spontaneous emission and is not coherent. This is because the electrons
position in the beam are random, which results in random phases
between the EM wave which they emit. The total radiated power
is proportional to the number of electrons in the beam, i.e., the beam
current, and is weak [35].
The purpose of this research is to produce a cost effective FEM,
for which the FEM offers the prospect of a microwave source with
a broad tuning range, high power and reasonable efficiency which
is higher than other conventional FEL or microwave devices. We
are developing a novel pre-bunched free electron maser (PFEM)
operating at a relatively low voltage of 3 kV at a frequency of 10 GHz.
The result is a compact, powerful, efficient and cost effective device
suitable for potential industrial applications, such as plasma welding
torch, pollution control, microwave processing of materials,detection of
shallow buried non-metallic landmine and communication systems [6
8]. The system, shown in Figure 1, consists of a rectangular cavity
(for velocity modulation of the electron beams) and a rectangular
cavity (for energy extraction). The experimental result demonstrated
coherent emission and gain with a beam current of up to 5 mA [9].
The PFEM operates at a low current and accelerating voltage,
thus maintaining a compact design. The acceleration potential is
applied between the electron gun filament and input cavity. The same
X-band microwave source is fed into both the cavities, to ensure the EM
wave in both cavities are in phase. The phases of the EM waves can be
modified (tuned) by employing a phase shifter. Electron beam passing
through the EM wave in the input cavity will be velocity modulated.
This velocity modulated electron beam interacts with the EM wave
in the output cavity. A strong coherent radiation will be emitted if
the velocity modulated electron beam is in phase with the EM wave
in the output cavity. As a result, enlarged microwave power can be
obtained [1012].

Progress In Electromagnetics Research, PIER 95, 2009

21

2. PFEM DESIGN CONCEPT

The PFEM structure consists of an input cavity and an output cavity,
as can be seen in Figure 1. Each cavity is made of three sections:
the standard X-band section, taper section and the thin gap section.
The PFEM operates in the X-band spectrum, with a 10 GHz operating
frequency. The standard X-band section acts as an interface of PFEM
with other waveguide components operating in X-band spectrum.
These waveguide components are the E-H tuner, phase shifter, ferrite
isolator, Moreno cross-coupler and the X-band source itself.
Standard
Taper
X-band
section section
10.16 mm

Thin gap section

Standard
Taper X-band
section section

Input Cavity

Output Cavity
22.86 mm

Figure 1. Diagram of PFEM showing the input cavity and output

cavity.
The end of the thin gap section is terminated by a copper wall.
This is to produce a standing EM wave condition in the cavity. The
TE10 mode EM wave is generated from an X-band source and travels
into the cavity via the opening on standard X-band section [1316].
A taper section is designed to connect the standard X-band section
and the thin gap section. The waveguide of the taper section is
designed such that the dimension varies smoothly. This allows a
smooth transition of EM wave fed from the input of the standard Xband section to the thin gap section [17]. For each cavity, apertures of
1.5 mm diameter are drilled at the centre of thin gap sections (on both
sides of the thin gap sections). An electron gun source (the tip of the
filament) is placed at a short distance from the input cavity. Electron
beams are emitted from this electron gun source when heated. Strong
interaction between the electron beam and EM wave can occur because
the path of the electron beam is in parallel TE10 mode field of the EM
wave. Moreover, the cavity apertures are located at the centre of the
narrow length of the cavity. This ensures that the strongest E-field of
the TE10 mode EM wave will interact with the electron beam [18].
The height of the thin gap section is designed at 1.5 mm, so as to
increase the intensity of the E-field strength, and allows short electron
transit time. This height of the thin gap section is chosen so that the

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Malek, Lucas, and Huang

transit time of electron in the thin gap section of the PFEM waveguide
must be less than the time for half of a wavelength of the standing
wave sinusoidal waveform. The electrons are velocity modulated by the
intense EM wave strength in the thin gap section. In other words, the
electron beams are pre-bunched by the EM wave in the input cavity.
At the same instance, the same EM wave fed into the input cavity
from the X-band source is coupled out via a Moreno cross-coupler and
coaxial cable and fed into the output cavity.
A phase shifter is placed at the output cavity, where the phase of
the EM waves between the two cavities can be varied from 0 to 360
degrees. The phase in between the two cavities are varied so that,
bunched electrons will arrive at the output cavity having the same
phase as the EM wave, to allow synchronism with the EM wave which
results in amplification of the EM wave in the output cavity.
3. PFEM EXPERIMENTAL IMPLEMENTATION
3.1. PFEM System Arrangement
The PFEM system set-up, shown in Figure 2, consists of four main
components: the electron gun, the input cavity (electron velocity
modulator), the output cavity (energy extractor) and the turbomolecular vacuum pump system. This section describes briefly these
components. A simple electron gun arrangement has been used, which
incorporates a cathode and an anode. The cathode is designed initially
from tungsten filament (operated up to 50 A). At the next stage,
Thoria coated Iridium filament has been used as the electron gun
source. The input cavity also performs as an anode. The electron gun
is operated at voltages up to 3 kV. The supply polarity is negative [18].
The filament is powered using a VARIAC (variable auto transformer)
and a step down filament transformer. The output lines of the
transformer are connected to the filament.
The electron gun is placed at a short distance before the input
cavity. The output cavity is placed directly below the input cavity, as
shown in Figures 1 and 2. The two cavities are separated by silicon
O ring for insulation purpose. The insulation is needed to allow the
current flowing through the apertures to be measured. This input
cavity is designed using a standard X-band waveguide, WR90/WG16,
with internal broad dimension of 22.86 mm, and narrow dimension of
10.16 mm. As can be seen in Figure 1, each cavity consists of three
main sections: the standard X-band section, the tapered section and
the thin gap section.
Based on the operating frequency of 10 GHz, the length of
the standard X-band section is designed to be one waveguide

Progress In Electromagnetics Research, PIER 95, 2009

23

Ceramic
Isolator

Copper
tube
Matched
load
E/H Tuner
N-type
connector

P1s
(From X-Band
Source)
Matched
load

E/H
Tuner
Ferrite
Isolator

Filament
Brass Screw

Input Cavity
Silicon O Ring

Output Cavity
Aperture
360 degree
phase shifter

N-type
connector

24 dB
coupler

Precision
attenuator
N-type
connector

15 dB
coupler

Glass Spacer

Pout (To Spectrum Analyser)

Coaxial
cable

Turbomolecular Pump Vacuum

Figure 2. Diagram of pre-bunched free electron maser (PFEM)

system. The electron gun and high voltage circuits are omitted for
simplicity purpose.
wavelength (g ). A thin gap section of height 1.5 mm and length 2.5*
waveguide wavelength (2.5*g ) is connected to the tapered section.
Apertures of 1.5 mm diameter are drilled in the centre of the thin gap
section to allow electrons to flow through, and hence pre-bunched by
the EM wave in the input cavity.
Therefore, a tapered section of one waveguide wavelength (g )
is placed in between the standard X-band section and the thin gap
section. The taper should be designed to keep radiation reflection
loss at a minimum, since the power may be lost to reflection and
radiation [1316]. Simulation using Vector Fields CONCERTO shows
that the return loss of EM wave is minimized when the taper length is
designed to be equal to 1* waveguide wavelength.
The microwave power (up to 10 dBm) from the Marconi signal
generator is fed into input cavity. To ensure the same phase, the same
microwave power is fed into the output cavity using the 15 dB coupler,
via a coaxial cable. The two cavities are further fully tuned to get the
best resonance by using E-H tuners. The operating frequency is fixed
at 10 GHz. A 360 degree phase shifter, placed at the output cavity, can
be adjusted to ensure the correct phase between the bunched electron

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Malek, Lucas, and Huang

beams and the microwave E-field in the output cavity. The bunched
(velocity modulated) electron beams will travel from the apertures of
the input cavity into the apertures of the output cavity. These bunched
beams will strongly interact with the TE10 mode E-field wave in the
output cavity. The resultant microwave signal in the output cavity is
extracted to the spectrum analyzer for analysis using a 24 dB Moreno
cross coupler. To measure the current flowing across the apertures
of the output cavities, a glass spacer is placed in between the output
cavity and the turbo molecular vacuum pump. This glass spacer also
provides additional security, as it separates the vacuum pump from the
PFEM cavities and the high voltages.
3.2. Main Body of the PFEM
The resonant cavities of the PFEM are constructed from the WR90
rectangular waveguide (X-band frequency region).
Rectangular
waveguide was chosen in this project to overcome overmoding
problems [1921]. The constructions of various PFEM components
are described in this paper.
The main body of the PFEM device is constructed from a long
X-band rectangular waveguide. The diagram of the long X-band
rectangular waveguide is shown in Figure 3, where the dotted line
shows the section of this waveguide to be cut using the milling cutter.
The horizontal length of the thin gap section is designed to be 2.5*g ,
while the horizontal lengths of the taper section and the standard Xband section are g respectively. After cutting this waveguide, if one is
to view the end result from the top (aerial view), the thin gap section
and the taper section are now topless. In order to cover these two
topless sections, copper plates will be placed on top of the respective
sections. These copper plates were aluminum soldered along the edges.
It is shown that leaks occurred along the edges when this aluminum
soldering was used.
Length of X-band rectangular waveguide
Discarded
section
Thin gap section
2.5* g

Taper
section

Standard
X-band
section

Discarded
section

Figure 3. Diagram (side view) of a long X-band rectangular

waveguide where the PFEM waveguide cavity will be constructed from
it.

Progress In Electromagnetics Research, PIER 95, 2009

25

As a solution, soft soldering (60% tin / 40% lead) was used and
no leaks occurred. The soft soldering procedure was performed at
about 2000 Celsius. Due to cost reasons, the soldering method was
used in constructing the cavity instead of the welding method. After
covering the two sections (taper section and thin gap section) with
thin copper plates, there still left an open air at the end of the thin
gap section. In order to resonate, the cavity requires mirror at each
end. These mirrors are needed to reflect the microwave radiation. In
microwave frequencies, this can be provided by the short circuit wall
at one end and an isolator at the other end which allows microwave in
one direction and not the opposite direction.
Therefore, another thin copper plate was cut from an existing Xband waveguide, and this copper plate (1.5 mm width and 22.86 mm
length) was soft soldered onto the end (open air) of the thin gap section.
Apertures of 4 mm diameter are required to be placed at the centre of
the thin gap section at both cavities. These 4 mm diameter apertures
were drilled at the centre of the thin gap section of both cavities.
3.3. Filament Housing
The filament would need to be placed just before the aperture of the
input cavity. The filament needed to be housed by a suitable material
component to preserve the vacuum condition for the filament to operate
in optimum condition. A copper tube is used to house the filament.
The outer diameter of this copper tube was measured at 22 mm. The
diameter of the copper tube was larger than the aperture diameter
(4 mm) on the thin gap section, but smaller than the wide dimension
of the X-band rectangular waveguide (22.86 mm). This copper tube
was cut from the available long copper tube. It was cut at the centre.
One copper tube was for the input cavity (for filament housing), and
another copper tube was for the output cavity (for connection to glass
spacer).
The cut length of the copper tube was measured appropriately
so that the length of the filament and its copper wires can be placed
comfortably in it. One end of the copper tube is silver soldered to a
70 mm diameter standard vacuum flange (DN40CF). Silver solder was
used for soldering copper to steel material such as the vacuum flange.
The temperature used for silver soldering was at 6000 Celsius, which
was much higher than that of soft soldering. The other end of the
copper tube was soft soldered on top of the thin gap section surface,
encircling the aperture of the input cavity. The total distance from the
vacuum flange of the copper tube to the surface of the thin gap section
is measured at 48 mm.

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Malek, Lucas, and Huang

3.4. The Silica Windows

In the input cavity, microwave EM wave enters through an aperture
on one side of the cavity. The waveguide feeding the cavity from the
microwave source is not evacuated. Hence, a silica window is bonded to
the cavity to seal the input power aperture. The silica does not affect
the microwave transmission significantly due to its low-loss dielectric
characteristic. The output cavity also has a silica window seals on
the output power aperture side. One end of the input cavity and
output cavity was soft soldered to standard UBR100 waveguide flanges
respectively, which can be seen in Figure 4. A 2 mm gap was left before
the end of the waveguide cavity. This space is designated for the silica
window that will terminate the waveguide cavity. These windows allow
transition from the vacuum system of the resonant cavity to standard
waveguide components in atmosphere.
The UV fused silica window is of 40 mm diameter and 2 mm
thickness. Two rectangular shapes, with 24.5 mm length and 12 mm
width each, as shown in Figure 5 were cut at the glass workshop. Epoxy
Araldyte adhesive was placed along the ridge of the waveguide cavity.
The silica window was then placed on top of the waveguide ridge. The
silica window was left for overnight for drying. The same procedure was
applied to the other waveguide cavity. The windows are now secured to
the respective waveguide flanges using the epoxy Araldyte adhesives.
It should be noted that the use of soft-soldering or epoxy adhesives are
not recommended for high vacuum components as both soldering resin
residues and epoxy out-gas quite badly. However, this is compensated
by the high capacity of the vacuum pumping system.
24.5 mm

12 mm

12 mm

40 mm diameter

Figure 4. UBR100 standard

waveguide flange.

Figure 5.
Two rectangular
shapes cut from a circular UV
fused silica window.

Progress In Electromagnetics Research, PIER 95, 2009

27

3.5. The Tightening of the Two Cavities

The now completed waveguide cavities (input cavity and output cavity)
can be placed on top of each other. For monitoring the current flow
across the apertures, a PTFE layer is placed in between the two
cavities. Silicon O ring was placed in between the two cavities for
vacuum sealing purpose. Two brackets and four brass screws and nuts
were used to clamp the two cavities together. The length of each
bracket is 5 mm and its width is 1.5 mm. The length of each brass
screw is 4.1 mm. Two holes were drilled at each bracket near to each
end of the bracket. The brass screw could then be slotted into the
hole of one bracket, and to the hole of another bracket located below
the first bracket. The holes on the two brackets were aligned with
each other, so that the brass screws could be slotted perfectly into
the two brackets. Nut was used to tighten the two brackets. The
same procedure is applied to the other two brackets. The completed
construction of the input and output cavities is shown in Figure 6.
3.6. The Filament Circuit Housing
Section 3.3 describes the cavity construction for housing the filament
which is placed just before the aperture of the input cavity. A method is
also needed to house the copper wires, the copper base and stanchions
from the flange base. As a summary, these components can be called
the filament circuit elements. A 70 mm diameter copper tube is
used to house the filament circuit housing. This copper tube was
cut to 73 mm length. The copper tube was then silver soldered to
two 70 mm diameter vacuum flanges (DN40CF) at both of its ends.
Test performed indicated that the vacuum pressured was lowered to
a satisfactory level (1 108 mbar). Hence no leakages were found in
the constructed copper tube with vacuum flanges.
Vacuum flange (DN40CF)
Waveguide flange (UBR100)
Bracket

Silica window

Nut

Brass screw
Copper tube

Figure 6. Completed PFEM consisting of input and output cavities,

clamped by brackets, brass screws and nuts.

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Malek, Lucas, and Huang

3.7. The Glass Spacer

The current flow across the apertures of the output cavity needed
to be monitored for beam line measurement. If the output cavity is
connected directly to the vacuum pump, this aperture current cannot
be measured because the current will flow onto the vacuum pump and
to the earth. This is because the vacuum pump is placed at the earth
potential. The solution is to place a glass tube in between the output
cavity and the vacuum pump, so that an ammeter can be placed in
between the output cavity and the earth to measure the current flowing
across the apertures of the output cavity.
This glass tube was cut to a length of 40 mm from an existing
available long glass tube. Epoxy Araldyte adhesive were placed along
the ridges of the two vacuum flanges (DN40CF). Each end of the
glass tube was placed on top of each of the vacuum flange ridge. The
glass tube was left for overnight for drying. In the next morning, the
glass tube is now secured to the vacuum flanges using epoxy Araldyte
adhesives.
3.8. Electron Gun
An electron gun was designed, constructed and tested that can provide
up to few mA of beam current at a nominal voltage of 3 kV. In the
initial stage, tungsten filament is used as the electron gun source
(cathode). As the initial result showed potential, Thoria coated iridium
filament (cathode) is used as the electron gun in the later stage. The
input cavity acts as the anode. If the total filament current is equal to
10 mA then the perveance at 3 kV is 6.09 108 . This value is less than
or around 108 , which is considered low enough to be able to ignore
the effects of space-charge [22]. For such a relatively low voltage, low
current gun, the development and operation of a tungsten filament is
much simpler compared to the more complex Pierce type electron
gun [23, 24]. The effect of ionizing rays (X-rays) can be neglected since
the beam voltage is less than 40 kV [25].
The filament is bent into hairpin, forming an inverted V shape.
The diameter of the tungsten filament used is 0.22 mm. Two copper
wires are used and are attached to the filament legs using screw
terminals and screws. The mounting layout for the filament is shown
below in Figure 7. The photo for the mounting layout for the tungsten
filament is shown in Figure 8, while the photo for the mounting layout
for the Thoria coated iridium filament is shown in Figure 9.
A circular nylon support base with 10.2 mm thickness and 31.2 mm
diameter are used. Six holes are drilled on the nylon support base.
A central hole is drilled in the middle of the nylon support base.

Progress In Electromagnetics Research, PIER 95, 2009

29

Filament
Screw

Terminal screw
Copper wire
Light bulb

Nylon base
Copper wire

Stanchion
Flange base
Vacuum flange
Copper rod

Ceramic spacer
Wire feed-through s

Epoxy encapsulated wire

Figure 7. Filament mounting method using copper wires, screws and

terminal screws.
The flange base section slot onto four stanchions fixed to the 70 mm
diameter vacuum flange. In Figure 7, due to the diagram drawn in
2-D, only two stanchions are showed for simplicity purpose. The other
ends of the stanchions are slotted onto the four holes on the nylon base.
Hence, the function of the stanchions is to provide stability to the nylon
support base and to hold it into stationery position. The stanchions
are connected to earth, hence making the flange base section at earth
potential. The presence of these holes on the nylon base also function
to pump away efficiently gases generated during degassing.

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Malek, Lucas, and Huang

Tungsten
filament

Thoria coated iridium

filament

Flexible
copper wire

Nylon base

Light bulb
Stanchion

Figure 8. Photo of the mounting

of the tungsten filament.

Figure 9. Photo of mounting of

Thoria coated iridium filament.

The filament legs are attached to two copper wires. The copper
wires are flexible and are fed directly from the flange base. From the
flange base, the copper wires are then fed through the other two holes
on the circular nylon base. Then they are bended by hand to form
arc curves as shown in Figure 7 before being straightened again. The
screw terminal can be now placed at the end of the copper wire, and
screws are affixed to the filament legs. Ceramic beads are placed along
the length of the copper wires to prevent electrical breakdown.
The filaments vertical position can be adjusted by sliding the
terminal screws up and down respectively. The screws are used to
attach the filament legs to the copper wires. The use of flexible copper
wires is beneficial because they can be bended to adjust the filaments
horizontal location. As a result, the filament is aligned correctly onto
the middle of the aperture of the input cavity. It is clear that only
about a millimetre or so of the filament (at the tip) contributes to
the emission and the shape of the remainder of the filament is of no
importance.

Progress In Electromagnetics Research, PIER 95, 2009

31

A small 2.5 Volts light bulb is also placed inside the inner hole
of the nylon base. Two leads are soldered to this light bulb. The two
leads are connected to a power supply. When 2.5 Volts are applied
from the power supply, the light bulb will light up, therefore allowing
the user to view the alignment of the filament tip in relation to the
aperture of the input cavity. After the two cavities are placed on top
of each other, separated by silicon O ring, the light bulb is no more
used (light up) during the experimental process.
The flange base has four protruding rods attached to it. Two rods
are used to attach to the copper wires, while two other rods are used to
attach to the leads connecting to the light bulb. Electrical connection
leads from the grid and filament posts all pass separately through
the vacuum flange via ready-made ceramic feed-throughs welded in.
Therefore, on the atmospheric side of the gun body, there are a total
of 4 external leads encapsulated in a solid cylinder of epoxy. Two
leads are for the two legs of the filament and the other two leads are
connected to the light bulb. There is no internal lead specifically for
the input cavity (anode connection). Hence an external ground wire is
connected from earth to the outer wall (external surface) of the input
cavity.
Clearly it would be desirable to have the filament to anode spacing
at a minimum, since this would lead to less interception by the anode
(depending on its aperture size) [23]. The distance between the tip of
the filament and the input cavity aperture is 1 mm. If the filament is
set too near or in the aperture, the emission current will be limited by
space charge. This separation distance is sufficient to allow reliable
operation at 3 kV without breakdown. The input cavity (anode)
aperture size of 4 mm in diameter provides a low anode loss and avoids
excessive diverging of the beam.
3.9. Electron Gun Circuit
The electron gun circuit can be seen in Figure 10. The filament is
powered using a variac (variable auto transformer) and a step down
filament transformer. The filament transformer used is the AT476
model from AWI Microwaves. The variac determines how much voltage
will go to the step-down transformer. A bench top model of variac is
used so as to bring up the filament current slowly. The output lines of
the transformer are connected to the filament. This secondary winding
of the transformer provides AC heating or filament voltage for filament
of the electron gun.
The step down transformer reduces the incoming voltage to about
3 volts when current flows through it before reaching the filament. This

32

Malek, Lucas, and Huang

Ammeter

Variac

VARIAC

MAINS
SUPPLY

input
input
TRANSFORMER
output
output

Figure 10. Electron gun circuit.

Filament
transformer

Filament
transformer

Figure 11. Photo of electron gun

circuit.

results in a current of up to 5 Amperes flowing through the filament.

The photo of the electron gun circuit is shown in Figure 11.
Electrical resistance causes the filament to heat up and release
electrons by thermionic emission. The higher the current, the bigger
the heat and the greater the number of electrons released. The filament
requires high current and low voltage because the filament resistance is
very low, i.e., if the voltage flowing through the filament is too high, the
filament will burn up. Higher current requirements are met by setting
the filament transformers in parallel, as shown in Figure 11. When
a high voltage is applied between the filament (cathode) and input
cavity (anode), all free electrons released from the filament surface are
accelerated towards the anode.
3.10. Filament Material
At the initial stage, tungsten filament is used because it is readily
available in the laboratory, and it is easy to make a V shape tungsten
filament. Tungsten wire is also available at a low cost and performed
reasonably well. Tungsten filament has a high work function (4.55 eV).
It requires around 4 Amps of current to heat it and for it to initiate
electron emission. The tungsten filament that is available can produce
maximum emission current of around 200 A at the tip. In order to
produce greater than this current, another electron gun source need to
be investigated.

Progress In Electromagnetics Research, PIER 95, 2009

33

Tungsten has the disadvantage of becoming very brittle (due

to crystal growth) when it is heated, which means that it is easily
broken by vibration. In addition it will instantly oxidise if exposed
to atmospheric pressure while hot, resulting in the burn-out of the
filament. The hot filament also generates CO and CO2 in the vacuum
system and causes larger gas molecules to be split into fragments. The
solution is to investigate a filament material which is not easily oxidise,
even when exposed to atmospheric pressure when hot. During the
experimental process, the copper tubing need to be opened repeatedly
to align the filament better to the aperture of the input cavity, after
bringing up the vacuum pressure up to atmospheric pressure level. As
a result, after several exposures to atmospheric pressure, the tungsten
filament becomes more brittle and would eventually break. Hence a
new V shape tungsten filament has to be repeatedly constructed and
placed on the studding.
An option is to use Thoria (thorium oxide) coated tungsten
filament. This is just a tungsten filament, much like that in a light
bulb, except that a tiny amount of the rare metal thorium was added
to the tungsten. The free thorium is released within the thorium oxide
coating during the heating of the filament (about 2400 degree Celsius).
This free thorium migrates to the surface of the oxide coating and emits
electrons. It is this free metal film of thorium on the surface of the
oxide coating that results in the emission characteristics of the thorium
coated filaments.
The tungsten filament with thorium is a much better producer of
electrons than the plain tungsten filament by itself. This thoriated
tungsten filament has a maximum emission current of 5 mA [26].
Thorium has a lower work function (3.41 eV) than tungsten. The
Thoria coated tungsten filament can last a very long time, and is very
resistant to high voltages. Although Thoria coated tungsten filament
has a lower work function, it still has the brittle characteristic from the
tungsten. A method must be investigated to lower the work function
while investigating for a new material having non-burnout or nonbrittle characteristic.
A solution is found by using Thoria coated iridium filament, as
shown in Figure 12. Iridium has a high work function (5.27 eV)
compared to tungsten. This high work function can be lowered by
coating the iridium with Thoria which also results in longer filament
life. The filament also requires less power and it can be operated
at lower temperatures. This filament can produce maximum current
emission of 20 mA, which is much greater than the tungsten filament.
Having a lower work function allows Thoria coated iridium
filament to be very efficient at releasing electrons by thermionic

34

Malek, Lucas, and Huang

Figure 12. Photo of Thoria coated iridium filament.

emission. This means that it can operate at a lower temperature than
tungsten to release the same number of ionising electrons. Experiment
performed shows that only about 2 Amps of heating current is needed
for it to start emitting electrons. This result in less CO and CO2
produced and less molecular cracking. Unlike tungsten, iridium could
also be operated in air at atmospheric pressure without bad effects.
A slight disadvantage of Thoria is the environmental issues due to
the exposure to the alpha particles emitted by thorium. Hence, care
must be taken in its handling and use. Iridium filaments are widely
used in mass spectrometry, organic spectroscopy and X-ray sources
and many are coated with thorium oxide to improve electron emission.
The structure of this Thoria coated iridium filament is similar to the
previously used tungsten filament, which is inverted V shape.
4. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
The design and analysis of pre-bunched free electron maser have been
performed. Simulation results showed that the PFEM structure allows
intense E-field strength to accumulate in the thin gap section of the
cavity [9]. The resonant cavities are fine tuned using a phase shifter so
that the electrons arriving at the output cavity will be in phase with
the EM wave. The height of the thin gap section has been designed in
such a way that the transit time of the electrons across the height of
the thin gap section will be less than half of the EM wavelength. The
strong E-field is expected to intersect with the in-phase electrons in
the beam. Optimum energy exchange will occur and hence the output
EM wave is expected to be significantly amplified.
The construction phase is now complete. Each of the main
components has been evaluated as a separate module and testing of
each component is now completed. The testing of the electron gun
current emission has been performed, where the current flow across

Progress In Electromagnetics Research, PIER 95, 2009

35

the apertures of the output cavity was measured. Results showed

that around 50% of the total filament current will flow across the
apertures of the output cavity. The PFEM cavity construction was an
important process of the research. The PFEM was constructed using
affordable and available technologies. The construction of the main
body of the PFEM was discussed, followed by the filament housing,
the silica windows and the filament circuit housing. Methods used to
tighten the two cavities were also presented, together with methods
used to detect leaks in the system. The high vacuum system was also
discussed in this paper. Due to the compactness of the PFEM system,
a small vacuum system was used for pumping down the system to
reach a vacuum condition. The next major component of PFEM is the
electron gun. The design of electron gun was discussed in this paper,
together with the electron gun circuit.
In the future, the output power of the PFEM will be raised to
Watt level for industry demonstration purpose. At the initial stage, as
described in this paper, the tungsten filament was used as a source
of electron. The tungstens emission from the tip is 200 A [24].
After gradually gaining confidence in the system, the next step is to
use the Thoria coated iridium filament. The use of Thoria coated
iridium filament was also discussed. The current emission used in the
experiment is 10 mA. Hence 5 mA of beam current is expected assuming
50% of the total filament current flows across the apertures of the
output cavity. The use of high voltage in the electron pre-bunching
stage and high current source are expected to maximise the FEM gain
and output considerably.
In the next step, a Pierce type electron gun will be proposed for
the PFEM system. The Pierce type electron gun used by previous
Free Electron Laser researcher produced a maximum emission current
of 285 mA [27]. Hence, with the acceleration voltage of 3 kV, and the
beam current of 142 mA (assuming 50% of the 285 mA current flow
across the apertures of the output cavity), the resultant cavity PFEM
output power will be significantly increased. In addition to that if
a higher output power X-band source (23 dBm) will be used in the
future, this will significantly further the cavity PFEM output power.
However, emission at higher beam currents will also mean that spacecharge spreading of the beam must be taken into consideration.
The E-field patterns and leakages near the apertures of the thin
gap sections have been simulated using the CONCERTO software.
Results showed that the aperture diameter of 1.5 mm produced an
acceptable amount of leakages. Comparison of these results with
the work done by Panda will be performed in the future [28]. The
PFEM system design can be extended to higher frequencies by

36

Malek, Lucas, and Huang

scaling down the waveguide dimensions appropriately or increasing the

acceleration voltage. Possible applications at frequencies above 30 GHz
are millimetre wave imaging, treating of tumours and high resolution
radar system [2932].
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