Electromagnetic instability in an ion-channel electron cyclotron maser

A new plasma maser scheme, the ion-channel electron cyclotron maser (ICECM) is investigated, and the electromagnetic instability in the ICECM is studied. Using three-dimensional perturbation theory, the dispersion relation of the ICECM is derived in this paper. Analysis finds that three typical regions of electromagnetic instability exist in the ICECM after considering the influence of the plasma wave, and some potential physical mechanisms for the instability are identified. In the Compton regime, an approximate calculation example for the instability growth rate is given. As a high-power short-wavelength electromagnetic radiation source, some evident advantages of ICECM in comparison with other electron cyclotron masers are shown.