The Microwave Sources for EPR Spectroscopy

Rapid development of many scientific and technical disciplines, especially in material science and material engineering increases a demand for quick, accurate and cheap techniques of materials investigations. The EPR spectroscopy meets these requirements and it is used in many fields of science including biology, chemistry and physics. For proper work, the EPR spectrometer needs a microwave source, which are reviewed in this paper. Vacuum tubes as well as semiconductor generators are presented such as magnetron, klystron, traveling wave tube, backward wave oscillator, orotron, gyrotron, Gunn and IMPATT diodes. In this paper main advantages of gyrotron usage, such as stability and an increased spectral resolution in application to EPR spectroscopy is discussed. The most promising and reliable microwave source is suggested.