Self-consistent simulation of radio frequency multipactor on micro-grooved dielectric surface

Abstract

The multipactor plays a key role in the surface breakdown on the feed dielectric window irradiated by high power microwave. To study the suppression of multipactor, a 2D electrostatic PIC-MCC simulation code was developed. The space charge field, including surface deposited charge and multipactor electron charge field, is obtained by solving 2D Poisson's equation in time. Therefore, the simulation is self-consistent and does not require presetting a fixed space charge field. By using this code, the self-consistent simulation of the RF multipactor on the periodic micro-grooved dielectric surface is realized. The 2D space distributions of the multipactor electrons and space charge field are presented. From the simulation results, it can be found that only half slopes have multipactor discharge when the slope angle exceeds a certain value, and the groove presents a pronounced suppression effect on the multipactor.