EXPERIMENTAL PLASMA RELATIVISTIC MICROWAVE ELECTRONICS

Presence of plasma affects drastically the operation of microwave devi ces driven by high-current relativistic electron beams. Loading vacuum microwave oscillators with plasma changes the power and frequency ban d of the radiation. The Cherenkov plasma maser, that operates only wit h plasma inside, has both promising advantages and inherent disadvanta ges comparatively to the vacuum devices. Besides, plasma appears in a relativistic microwave oscillator spontaneously under the influence of high-power microwaves or electron fluxes; this parasitic plasma cause s microwave pulse shortening, mainly in devices operating in the micro second regime. A large body of experimental research carried out in re lativistic plasma microwave electronics since 1970 up to now is the su bject of this review.