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Experimental study of forced oscillations in the

Orbitron”
J C Thomaz Jr-f and C V Speller?, Departamento de Ffsica, lnstituto Technoldgico da Aeronautica (ITAICTA)
12.225, Sa”o Jose’ dos Campos. S.P., Brazil

and

Ross A Douglas. Departamento de Fisica Aplicada, IFGW, Unicamp, 13.081, Campinas, S.P., Brazil

A study was made of forced oscillations in an Orbitron produced by the application of a radio frequency
modulation voltage to the cathode. The results are interpreted on the basis of a model in which the electrons
move in orbits around the anode. The model predicts the frequencies of the various modes and how they
depend on the Orbitron parameters. Reasonably good agreement is obtained with this model.

1. introduction

In the Orbitron’, electrons from a small heated filament were

injected into the space between two coaxial cylinders which are
maintained at different values of the electrical potential. The
energy and angular momentum of the electrons were chosen
-anode
appropriately for them to orbit around the central cylinder.
Spontaneous radio frequency oscillations of the electrons were
measured and partially explained by the use of an orbital
model*. The application of an rf modulation voltage to the
quipotrntial lines
logarithmic potential of the Orbitrod produces negative cur-
rent values corresponding to certain frequencies as measured at
the outer cylinder, suggesting an expansion of the orbits in the
device as a consequence of a resonance phenomenon. peathods
The object of this experiment is to find an interpretation of
the observed resonant frequencies based on the orbital model -----filamrnt
which was used by Troise’ to explain spontaneous oscillations
in the Orbitron. -bias vdtogr

2. The Orbitron
Va VP
The anode, consisting of a stretched copper wire of 0.1 cm
diameter, and the cathode, a stainless steel cylinder of 7.96 cm Figure 1. The experimental arrangement of the Orbitron.
internal diameter, were mounted on a steel table in a vacuum
bell jar. The anode was maintained at a voltage (V.) of
typically +300 V. The electron source was a small tungsten
are modulated around this potential by an external rf sweep
filament mounted on tantalum supports (Figure 1) and typi-
generator (50 kHz-65 MHz). The current collected by the
cally held at +3 V (V,). The end plates served as electrostatic
cathode was measured with an electrometer. The system was
mirrors for electron reflection at the extremities of the Or-
diffusion pumped and reached 10m4Pa.
bitron. The cathode was divided into three parts, which permit-
ted modulation and/or current collection in three regions along
3. The theoretical model
the axis of the Orbitron. The end plates and the cathode parts
are usually maintained at ground potential except when they Electron trajectories were calculated for a purely logarithmic
potential by Hooverman4. Feidt’ extended these calculations to
include the distortion of the potential by the electron emitter.
*This work was supported by PADCT-FINEP, and FAPESP. These authors showed that the type of orbit obtained depends
TScholarship from CNPq. on how the electron is launched, which can be specified by such

2032
J C Thomaz Jr et al: Forced oscillations in the Orbitron

parameters as the distance of the filament from the symmetry (a)

axis of the Orbitron, the bias potential of the filament and the
angle of launching of the electron from the filament and shield 0.13

structure. They showed that there is a continuous distribution

of trajectories from circular orbits with maximum angular
momentum to orbits whose apogees are equal to or less than
the radius of the anode and hence are collected by it.
::t
0 -
, -
/
The movement of the electrons can be described in terms of
angular (0) and radial (r) variables. Orbits which are periodic in -0.I5

0 are closed and present a sequence of discrete frequencies.

These orbits have frequencies of 24.3, 11.7, 7.3 and 5.2MHz
and perigees of 2.41, 0.69, 0.10 and 0.03 cm respectively for
circular, 3-lobe, 5-lobe and 7-lobe orbits.
All orbits except those which are circular are periodic in r
and the frequency of this oscillation varies with the form of the
~=L 0 13
orbit. It is a minimum for orbits which are almost circular, and F -- -- v
increases slowly as the ratio of the apogee to the perigee
increases, becoming almost constant for large values of the L I I I I
eccentricity. Since this variation of the frequency is less than 0 20 30 40 60
10%, one expects to observe a broad line whose width would f(MHz)
depend on the relative populations of different types of orbits. Figure 2. The current collected by the central part of the cathode as a
The frequency range of an r-type resonance is from 17.1 function of the modulation frequency applied to the part of the cathode
nearest the filament. Other configurations of modulation and collection
(nearly circular) to 18.5 MHz (highly eccentric) for the typical resulted in curves of similar forms.
Orbitron parameters used here. Observed line widths are the
result of various factors, such as the energy spread of electrons
injected into the Orbitron, the frequency spread due to elec- ;'5.00 -

trons in orbits with different apogee to perigee ratios for the

theotltical
r-type resonances, and the energy spread which results from
(2n-I}=I

electron-electron interactions. 2000 -

When the electric field in the Orbitron is modulated, elec-
trons will resonate and gain sufficient energy to expand their ®
e
® Exp.

0
orbits and be collected by the cathode. Normally the cathode ® ®
15.00-
collects the positive ions produced by the electron bombard-
ment of the residual gas molecules in the Orbitron. Thus the
• , * Exp.
resonance condition is observed by a decrease in the cathode ++ ~ t~ti¢ol
-
current which may become negative if the number of electrons ~0.00
(2n~1)= 3
A a A exp.
collected is sufficiently great. Since all electrons (except those in A •

a perfectly circular orbit) are excited by this type of modula- theomti=ol

tion, the area of the resonance should be large in comparison 5,00 - (2n-l) = 5

with other resonant structures.

The extremities of the Orbitron present complex situations
for an analysis of electron excitations. At both extremities the 0.00 1, , , , i , , , ] , . . . . , , , , l , , , , l , , , , l, , r l , r l l l i . . . . . , , , i I

field is shaped so as to produce electron reflections in the axial ,4.00 ,45o 15.oo ,~5o ls.oo ~.5o
direction. In the region of the filament the field does not (volts)
possess angular symmetry. Modulations applied in these re- Figure 3. The variation of the frequencies of the principal modes of
gions are expected to excite various types of oscillations so that forced oscillations as a function of the square root of the anode
the resonance spectrum will be complex. voltage.

4. Experimental results and discussion

Figure 2 shows the current collected by the cathode as a
function of the frequency of the rf modulation. We see that the
principal structure or resonance is located around 17 MHz.
There are indications of resonances at other frequencies. In
general, the relative intensities of these resonances depend upon
the parameters of the system, such as anode and filament
voltages, the emission current and details of the filament ge-
ometry.
The frequencies of the resonances were studied as the anode
voltage was varied. Figure 3 shows that they vary as the square
root of the voltage when the filament bias is maintained pro-
portional to the anode voltage, as expected from orbit theory.
It also shows that in the range of parameters investigated, the
predominant resonances are the r-type and closed orbits of 3
and 5 lobes.
Because of the restricted range of values of the Orbitron
parameters to inject electrons into circular orbits it is expected
that few electrons will be found in these orbits. Their contribu-
tion to the resonance spectrum is observed to be very small.
The resonance frequencies are observed to have only a weak
dependence on the filament bias potential, showing a small
increase with increasing bias as expected on the bails of orbit
theory.
The space charge within the Orbitron is increased as the
emission increases so that the variation of the frequency is a

2033
J C Thomaz Jr et al: Forced oscillations in the Orbitron
measure of the importance of space charge changes to the
distortion of the logarithmic potential. The resonance frequen-
cies decrease by about 5% as the emission current increases
from 10 to 40 #A. This weak dependence shows that space
charge changes were relatively unimportant in the range of
Orbitron parameters investigated here.
5. Conclusions
Forced oscillations resulting from a voltage modulation of the
cathode potential have been observed in an Orbitron in the
form of resonant-like structures in the current collected by the
cathode. These structures are interpreted as the result of the
expansion of electron orbits due to their radial or angular
2034
periodicities. The observed dependence of these frequencies on
the parameters of the Orbitron is in agreement with the predic-
tions of the orbit theory.
References
I R A Douglas, J Zabritski and R G Herb, Rev Scient Instrum, 36, 1
(1965).
2 S J Troise, Oscila~res de Radio-Frequrncia no Orbitron, thesis,
University of Silo Paulo (1970).
3 C V Speller, Um Estudo de Oscila~;6esForqadas no Orbitron, thesis,
University of Brasilia (1975).
4 R H Hooverman, J Appl Phys, 34, 3505 (1963).
5 M L Feidt, Contribution a l'Etude des Conditions de Fonctionnement
d'une Pompe Ionique a Champ Electrostatique Radial, thesis, Univer-
sity of Nancy (1972).