Control of high power microwave radiation by electromagnetic band gap structures

Leanid Simonchik,Jerome Sokoloff,Maxim Usachonak,Vladislav Babitski,Thierry Callegari

doi:10.1051/epjconf/201715703049

Abstract

A plasma control of powerful microwave propagation through the 1D and 2D EBG structures is investigated. Pulsed discharges in argon (or helium) at atmospheric pressure are applied as the plasma inhomogeneities. Temporal behavior of electron concentration in discharge is determined. The timedependent transmission spectra of 1D EBG structure formed solely by plasma in the X-waveguide are measured. The amplitudes of short (∼200 ns) powerful (50 kW) microwave pulses at frequency of 9.15 GHz are strongly suppressed (more than 40 dB) when they fall in the time interval of plasma structure existing. The propagation of these powerful microwave pulses through the triangle metallic 2D EBG structure with the plasma control elements is investigated too: when plasma acts as a compensator of defect in the front row of EBG structure the transmission in direction of 45 o quickly ceases (during a few tenth of nanoseconds), or one quickly arises, when plasma is as an additional defect.

Highlights

During the last decade, there has been an increasing interest in the microwave (MW) reconfigurable devices the transmitted properties of whose are changed by variation of external electric or magnetic fields or other factors
We demonstrate the ability to control the propagation of MW radiation at high power by one- and two-dimension (1D and 2D) electromagnetic band gap (EBG) structures using the pulse discharges in argon or helium at atmospheric pressure
The 1D EBG structure including pulsed plasma discharges in tubes can be irradiated by two different MW signals at frequency 9.15 GHz: powerful pulses and a continuous microwave (CW) signal at low power (5 mW)

Summary

Introduction

There has been an increasing interest in the microwave (MW) reconfigurable devices the transmitted properties of whose are changed by variation of external electric or magnetic fields or other factors. To create electrically tunable devices based, for instance, on the use of electromagnetic band gap (EBG) structures, their some passive elements must be replaced by active ones. Some critical problems for high-speed, large scale or complex systems which use computers or automation servers are occured at that. It can be a significant time delay or an operation at low microwave power or an extra development cost. The discharge plasma has a great potential for the application in microwave devices in the function of control elements due to its possibility for variations in size, geometry and density by changing the discharge current [1,2,3]. We demonstrate the ability to control the propagation of MW radiation at high (about 50 kW) power by one- and two-dimension (1D and 2D) EBG structures using the pulse discharges in argon or helium at atmospheric pressure

Experimental arrangement

Results and discussion

Control by 2D EBG structure

Conclusions