Means are discussed for generation of high-quality multimegawatt gyrat
ing electron beams using rf gyroresonant acceleration. TE(111)-mode cy
lindrical cavities in a uniform axial magnetic field have been employe
d for beam acceleration since 1968; such beams have more recently been
employed for generation of radiation at harmonics of the gyration fre
quency. Use of a TE(11)-mode waveguide for acceleration, rather than a
cavity, is discussed. It is shown that the applied magnetic field and
group velocity axial tapers allow resonance to be maintained along a
waveguide, but that this is impractical in a cavity. In consequence, a
waveguide cyclotron autoresonance accelerator (CARA) can operate with
near-100% efficiency in power transfer from rf source to beam, while
cavity accelerators will, in practice, have efficiency values limited
to about 40%. CARA experiments are described in which an injected beam
of up to 25 A, 95 kV has had up to 7.2 MW of rf power added, with eff
iciencies of up to 96%. Such levels of efficiency are higher than obse
rved previously in any fast-wave interaction, and are competitive with
efficiency values in industrial linear accelerators. Scaling argument
s suggest that good quality gyrating megavolt beams with peak and aver
age powers of 100 MW and 100 kW can be produced using an advanced CARA
, with applications in the generation of high-power microwaves and for
possible remediation of flue gas pollutants. (C) 1996 American Instit
ute of Physics.