Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 December 2006
The classical Pierce model consists of a one-dimensional plasma-filled diode into which a monoenergetic electron beam is injected. Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations are performed with the BIT1 code, involving a large number of superparticles. The evolution of slightly perturbed uniform equilibria into the related nonlinear attractor states for a broad range of $\alpha$ values, where $\alpha\,=\,\omega_{{\rm pe}}d/u_0$ is the diode control parameter, is investigated. A period-doubling route to chaos in the classical Pierce diode for $\alpha$ slightly below $5\pi$ is analyzed in detail.