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Secondary electron resonance; multipactor; RF discharge

Multipactor breakdown or multipactor discharge is a form of high frequency discharge that may occur in microwave components operating at very low pressures. Some RF components of multi-channel communication satellites have co-axial geometry and handle high RF power under near-vacuum conditions. The breakdown occurs due to secondary electron resonance, wherein electrons move back and forth in synchronism with the RF voltage across the gap between the inner and outer conductors of the co-axial structure. If the yield of secondary electrons from the walls of the co-axial structure is greater than unity, then the electron density increases with time and eventually leads to the breakdown. In this paper, the current due to the oscillating electrons in the co-axial geometry has been treated as a radially oriented Hertzian dipole. The electric field, due to this dipole, at any point in the coaxial structure, may then be determined by employing the dyadic Green’s function technique. This field has been compared with the field that would exist in the absence of multipactor.

S K Nagesh¹ D Revannasiddiah² S V K Shastry¹

1. Electrical Integration Division, ISRO Satellite Centre, Airport Road, Bangalore - 560 017, India
2. Department of Physics, University of Mysore, Manasagangothri, Mysore - 570 006, India

Published

January 2005

Manuscript received

19 March 2004

Manuscript revised

2 July 2004

Accepted

27 August 2004