Nonlinear analysis of the dielectric loaded rectangular Cerenkov maser

To deeply investigate the nonlinear interaction between the sheet beam and the slow wave mode in the dielectric loaded rectangular Cerenkov maser, a third order differential equation of the field profile function is rigorously derived. By combining with the relativistic equation of motion and using the traveling-wave boundary condition, the nonlinear phenomena, which involve with the growth rate, the electron phase bunching, the saturated power and length, etc., can be predicted through numerical calculations. An illustrative example has been given to demonstrate the validation of this method. The results show that a beam with axial momentum spread will lower the saturated power, increase the saturated length, and decrease the working bandwidth. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3684241]