Cryogenic resonant microwave compressors with energy extraction through “warm” interference switches

Abstract

A method of switching cryogenic resonant microwave compressors from the energy accumulation mode to the energy release mode is proposed and analyzed. The switching process is based on the resonant transfer of the microwave energy from a cryogenic storage cavity to a room temperature commutation cavity. The transfer can be realized using a cascade interference microwave switch weakly coupled to the storage cavity and consisting of two H-plane waveguide tees connected in series. The tees are made of a normally conducting material, located outside the cryostat, and contain commuting units in shorted side arms. The length of the cascade input arm (from the storage cavity to the first tee) is non-resonant, while the space between the storage cavity and the second tee is resonant. The weak coupling of the storage cavity to the cascade and the non-resonant length of its input arm allow one to minimize losses during the energy accumulation phase. When the commuting unit in the first tee is ignited, the tee opens, and the non-resonant volume of the cascade input arm is transformed into the volume of the resonant commutation cavity. The microwave energy is then transferred in a resonant way from the storage cavity to the commutation cavity, and when the transfer is complete, the commuting unit in the second tee is ignited to extract the energy into a load. It is shown analytically that, at a certain value of the coupling (the cryogenic storage cavity to the normally conducting cascade of tees) and length of the cascade input arm, the power gain in the storage cavity can be kept high. It is also shown that the energy accumulated in the storage cavity can be effectively transferred to the commutation cavity and from the commutation cavity to the load.