High Power Microwave Pulse Research Articles

Methods of Protecting Buildings against HPM Radiation—A Review of Materials Absorbing the Energy of Electromagnetic Waves

The pulsed high power microwave (HPM) technology has been developed worldwide for over 20 years. The sources of HPM pulses are a weapon of mass destruction. They pose danger especially to computer and telecommunications equipment and systems, both the military and civilian ones. This paper presents a survey of literature on electromagnetic wave radiation absorbing and shielding materials to be used in construction. Relevant protective measures should include the shielding of buildings or their parts and the absorption of radiation by building envelopes and their elements. The main focus is on the possibilities of improving the shielding and absorptive properties of common construction materials, such as concrete, mortars and synthetic resins. The survey covers the following groups of materials: carbon-based admixtures, nickel powder, iron powders, ferrites, magnetite and polymers. The final part of the survey is devoted to hybrid foam microwave absorbers in which the shape of the material’s inner structure and that of its surface play a special role.

Wideband Overmoded Liquid Calorimeter for High-Power Microwaves: Centimeters to Millimeters

The design of a liquid calorimeter with a closed absorbing load for measuring the energy of high-power microwave pulses in the range of 8–38 GHz is described. The calorimeter was designed to measure the energy of microwave pulses ranging from 1 to 500 J at a nominal power level of about 500 MW. The calorimeter includes a waveguide absorbing load and an automated control system. The waveguide absorbing load includes a segment of a circular overmoded cylindrical waveguide; the cylindrical wall is made of a dielectric pipe. The volume between the waveguide and the outer casing made of duralumin is filled with ethyl alcohol. Inside the waveguide, there is a cone made of duralumin, providing the best matching of the load. The automated control system includes a control and registration unit, an algorithm for determining the meniscus position, a power supply, a program that runs directly on the calorimeter control unit, and a control program for personal computer.

Synthesis of micro- and nanostructured materials via oscillating reactions initiated by high-power microwave pulses

Herein we describe the results of our study of plasma chemical process initiated by high-power microwave pulses generated by 75/0.8 gyrotron (frequency 75 GHz, pulse duration up to 12 ms, power up to 550 kW) in mixtures of metal (Mg, Ti, Mo) and dielectric (Al2O3, AlN, B) powders. The process leads to formation of micro- and nanostructured materials and the yield is strongly affected by hydrogen-containing additives (C2B10H12, H3BO3, NaBH4) in the mixture. It was found that the process occurs in three main stages. The first initiation stage is very short (just slightly exceeds the pulse duration) and includes the absorption of microwave irradiation and the discharge proceeded as coulombic explosion. The main stage is much longer and includes decomposition of starting materials and reactions between all the components. All the tested additives prolong the main stage, in some cases by an order of magnitude or even more, and turn it into self-sustaining oscillating mode. The last one is realized most likely due to autothermic effect. As a result, the yield increases sufficiently. Finally, the decay stage is relatively short stage (up to 200 ms) following the main stage and includes irreversible cooling down of the reaction zone and deposition of the particles. The decay stage is not affected by additives. Owing to use the additives we were able to decrease the energy consumption for preparation of the materials below 1 kJ/g, which is 2–3 times lower compared to our previous results. The prepared materials were characterized by SEM, EDS and X-ray diffraction analysis and found to be mainly oxides, nitrides and borides.

Photonic generation of pulsed microwave signals in the X-, Ku- and K-band.

Photonic microwave generation of high-power pulsed signals in the X-, Ku- and K-band using charge-compensated MUTC photodiodes is demonstrated. The impulse photoresponse without modulation showed a maximum peak voltage of 38.3 V and full-width at half-maximum of 30 ps. High power pulsed microwave signals at 10, 17 and 22 GHz with peak power up to 44.2 dBm (26.3 W), 41.6 dBm (14.5 W) and 40.6 dBm (11.5 W) were achieved, respectively.

Switched Oscillator With Quarter-Wave, Open-Circuited Stub for Generating Mesoband High-Power Microwave Pulses

This article presents a high-voltage switched oscillator (SO) with a quarter-wave open-circuited stub (OCS) for generating mesoband high-power microwave (HPM) pulses. Unlike the conventional SO, the proposed SO generates mesoband HPM pulses whose dc offset is greatly reduced because the OCS inserted between a charged transmission line and an antenna blocks the flow of the electric energy from a high-voltage power supply to the antenna. Thus, the proposed SO allows the insulation capability of the antenna to be increased and ground-loop-integrated-wideband antennas to be employed. The transient response of the proposed SO is theoretically analyzed to understand its operation mechanism. The results prove that the proposed SO is capable of producing mesoband HPM pulses with a damped rectangular pulse waveform without a high-voltage dc offset. Also, the amplitude and quality factor are discussed. Compared with the conventional SO, the proposed SO has a larger output amplitude and smaller quality factor. Here, the difference between the quality factors is negligible. In addition to the theoretical analysis, we simulated and fabricated the proposed SO. Consequently, the results of the circuit simulation and experiment demonstrated the validity of the proposed design concept.

Transient Analysis of High-Power Microwave Air Breakdown under External DC Magnetic Field

This article concentrates on the high-power microwave (HPM) breakdown process and behaviors in air-filled rectangular waveguide under the external dc magnetic field. To solve the persuasive issue, a three-dimensional (3-D) multiphysics model coupling full-wave Maxwell’s equations with plasma fluid equations is established and solved by the spectral-element time-domain (SETD) method. In our simulation, the Galerkin’s method is employed for the space discretization and the central difference scheme is used for the temporal discretization during the SETD process. The numerical results reveal that the external dc magnetic field applied in breakdown volume can significantly enhance the breakdown threshold to suppress the HPM breakdown, which is beneficial for the propagation of HPM pulse in air-filled waveguide. Our research provides theoretical guidance for suppressing the impact of HPM breakdown for HPM devices protection.

Wake excitation by a powerful microwave pulse and its evolution in a plasma-filled waveguide

We present the results of an experimental, theoretical, and numerical study of short and long time wake, produced by a 0.6 ns, 0.5 GW, 9.6 GHz high power microwave (HPM) pulse propagating in a plasma-filled cylindrical waveguide. The perturbation of the plasma density caused by the ponderomotive force prevents not only the pulse from spreading due to dispersion, but also leads to pulse compression. The high power pulse leaves far behind it a long lived positively-charged plasma whose electrons oscillate in the Coulomb potential well and ionize the background neutral gas over several tens to hundreds of nanoseconds. This leads to long time light emission observed in the experiment. The density of this newly created plasma can exceed many-folds its initial value. The theoretical model shows that as a result of the wake excitation by the propagating HPM pulse, fast electrons are ejected and collected on the waveguide wall. These high energy electrons, pulse compression, and long time light emission are evidence of the wake formation. The results of the experiment, the analytical model, and the numerical simulations are in good agreement.

Effects of Diffraction, Dispersion, and Absorption of Electromagnetic Waves in the Diagnostics of High-Power Microwave Pulses Using Wide-Aperture Liquid Calorimeters

Using a simple theory and finite-difference time domain (FDTD) simulations involving the Lorentz model, we demonstrate some problems in the determination of pulse waveform, amplitude, and peak power of high-power microwave pulses, when performed together with calorimetric measurement of the pulse energy, arising from the wave diffraction as well as from its dispersion in the absorbing liquid. Considering few typical pulse shapes and other experimental conditions, we outline the general limitations and recommendations for performing such measurements.

Repeated exposure to nanosecond high power pulsed microwaves increases cancer incidence in rat.

High-power microwaves are used to inhibit electronics of threatening military or civilian vehicles. This work aims to assess health hazards of high-power microwaves and helps to define hazard threshold levels of modulated radiofrequency exposures such as those emitted by the first generations of mobile phones. Rats were exposed to the highest possible field levels, under single acute or repetitive exposures for eight weeks. Intense microwave electric fields at 1 MV m-1 of nanoseconds duration were applied from two sources at different carrier frequencies of 10 and 3.7 GHz. The repetition rate was 100 pps, and the duration of train pulses lasted from 10 s to twice 8 min. The effects on the central nervous system were evaluated, by labelling brain inflammation marker GFAP and by performing different behavioural tests: rotarod, T-maze, beam-walking, open-field, and avoidance test. Long-time survival was measured in animals repeatedly exposed, and anatomopathological analysis was performed on animals sacrificed at two years of life or earlier in case of precocious death. Control groups were sham exposed. Few effects were observed on behaviour. With acute exposure, an avoidance reflex was shown at very high thermal level (22 W kg-1); GFAP was increased some days after exposure. Most importantly, with repeated exposures, survival time was 4-months shorter in the exposed group, with eleven animals exhibiting a large sub-cutaneous tumour, compared to two in the sham group. A residual X-ray exposure was also present in the beam (0.8 Gy), which is probably not a bias for the observed result. High power microwaves below thermal level in average, can increase cancer prevalence and decrease survival time in rats, without clear effects on behaviour. The parameters of this effect need to be further explored, and a more precise dosimetry to be performed.

Four-Layer Tunable Wideband Electromagnetic Shield Based on Cold Plasma

In this paper, we present a four-layer tunable wideband electromagnetic shield based on cold plasma. It consists of two dielectric matched layers, one backside housing dielectric layer and one vacuum chamber in between where cold plasma can be produced through a glow discharge. No plasma is produced within the vacuum chamber when low-power communication signal impinges on the shield and it can easily propagate through with very low return and absorption loss. When a high-power microwave pulse impinges on the shield, cold plasma can be timely produced within the chamber to reflect and absorb the high-intensity microwave energy. Input impedance, standing wave ratio, transmission and reflection coefficients and shielding effectiveness for proposed four-layer structure electromagnetic shield are deduced and formulated. Transparent mode of the electromagnetic shield for communication frequency at 3.5GHz is developed based on transmission line and plane wave theory. Simulation results show that the transmission coefficient is close to unity, and the reflection coefficient is near to zero. The half-power transmission bandwidth is 16% for proposed structure with central communication frequency of 3.5GHz. The impact of plasma frequency and plasma collision frequency on the absorption, reflection, shielding effectiveness for interference frequency between 0-6GHz are investigated. Simulation results show that higher the plasma frequency, better the shielding effectiveness is in the investigated frequency band when plasma collision frequency is fixed. It was also demonstrated that the shielding effectiveness of proposed structure can be tuned by changing plasma collision frequency.

The Interaction of a High-Power Sub-Nanosecond Microwave Pulse With Plasma

We present the results of experiments, analytical modeling, and numerical particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations for the propagation of a high-power, sub-nanosecond microwave pulse through a plasma-filled cylindrical waveguide in a parameter regime not studied before. Depending on the experimental conditions, the non-linear interaction of the high-power microwave (HPM) pulse with the plasma results in self-channeling through it or causes the formation of a wakefield. To study this phenomenon, two backward wave oscillators (BWOs), operating in the super-radiant mode at frequencies of 9.6 and 28.6 GHz, were designed and tested. These BWOs were driven by an electron beam (~280 keV, ~1.5 kA, ~5 ns) generated in a magnetically insulated foil-less diode, from which it propagates through a slow wave structure guided by an external axial magnetic field. Microwave pulses of ~0.4-ns width, up to ~500-MW peak power at 9.6 GHz, and up to ~1.2 GW at 28.6 GHz were obtained. These powerful subnanosecond timescale microwave beam pulses were injected into the neutral gas, plasma, or their mixture in various configurations.

Pulsed high-power microwaves do not impair the functions of skin normal and cancer cells in vitro: A short-term biological evaluation

Over the past few decades, microwave (MW) radiation has been widely used, and its biological effects have been extensively investigated. However, the effect of MW radiation on human skin biology is not well understood. We study the effects of pulsed high-power microwaves (HPMs) on melanoma (G361 and SK-Mel-31) and normal human dermal fibroblast (NHDF) cells. A pulsed power generator (Chundoong) was used to generate pulsed HPMs (dominant frequency: 3.5 GHz). For treatment 1, 5, 15, and 45 shots are given to cells in which the electromagnetic energy of 0.6 J was delivered to the cells at each trigger shot. Cell viability, proliferation rate, apoptosis, cell death, metabolic activity, and oxygen-free radical regulation were evaluated after the MW exposure at low and high doses. MW exposure increased the viabilities and proliferation rates of both melanoma cell lines in a dose-dependent manner, while no significant effects on the fibroblast cells were observed. We found an elevated level of ATP and mitochondrial activity in melanoma cells. Also, it was observed that MW exposure did not affect cell death in melanoma and fibroblast cells. A polymerase chain reaction analysis indicated that the MWs induced dose-dependent proliferation markers without affecting the cell cycle and apoptotic genes in the melanoma cells. Our findings show the differential effects of the MW radiation on the melanoma cells, compared to those on the fibroblast cells.

Low Loss Microwave Ceramic and other Microwave Dielectric Materials for Beam Physics Applications

Introduction. Relativistic, high intensity and small emittance electron bunches are the basis of a future linear collider and free electron laser projects. Drive beam generation in a wakefield structure employing for power extraction and acceleration low loss dielectrics like microwave ceramics, fused silica and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) diamond were considered.Objective. We report here our experimental testing of a ceramic material with extremely low loss tangent at GHz frequency ranges allowing the realization of high efficiency wakefield acceleration. We also present Barium Strontium Titanium oxides (BST) ferroelectric material, which is a critical tuning element of the 400 MHz superconducting radiofrequency (RF) tuner developed and tested by the CERN/Euclid Techlabs collaboration. The materials discussed here also include quartz and CVD diamonds that are capable of supporting the high RF electric fields generated by electron beams or pulsed high power microwaves. These materials have been optimized or specially designed for accelerator applications.Materials and methods. The ceramic materials for accelerators, commonly used for the dielectric based accelerating structures, have to withstand high gradient accelerating fields, and prevent potential charging by electron beams. Correspondingly, the ceramic materials, fused silica and CVD diamond were tested with high power wakefield accelerating structures at Argonne Wakefield Accelerator of Argonne National Laboratory. Some of the presented here ceramic materials were tested at X-band 11.4 GHz magnicon high power source.Results. Low loss microwave ceramics, fused silica, and CVD diamonds have been considered as materials for dielectric based accelerating structures to study of the physical limitations encountered driving > 100 MV/m at microwave and ~ GV/m at THz frequencies in a dielectric based wakefield accelerator. Various ceramic compositions were high power and electron beam tested at X-band 11.4 GHz magnicon power source and Argonne Wakefield Accelerator correspondingly. Special attention was paid to the CVD diamond cylindrical Ka-band 35 GHz wakefield structure development. Finally, the dielectric based structure tuning was demonstrated by varying the permittivity of the BST ferroelectric layer by temperature changes and by applying an external direct current electric field across the ferroelectric. This allows us to control the effective dielectric constant of the composite system and therefore, to control the structure frequency during operation. The same type of ferroelectric material was used for the Ferroelectric Fast Reactive tuner (FE-FRT) development. In a world first, CERN has tested the prototype FE-FRT with a superconducting cavity, and frequency tuning has been successfully demonstrated.Conclusion. Recent results on the development and experimental testing of advanced dielectric materials for accelerator applications are presented. Low loss microwave ceramics, quartz and CVD diamond are considered. We presented our experimental results on wakefield generation in microwave frequency ranges with the dielectric based accelerating structures. Special attention was paid to the experimental results on high power testing at X-band of the externally powered dielectric based components. Finally, we present here first experimental demonstration of ferroelectric tunable microwave ceramic for accelerator application, which includes both tunable dielectric wakefield accelerating structure and ferroelectric based fast high power tuner for superconducting cavities. The experimental results presented here are critical for the advanced dielectric wakefield accelerating structures and other components development intended for the future linear collider projects.

Research on pulse compression energy extraction technology based on X-band energy storage switching method.

A high power microwave source based on energy storage switching pulse compression technology can produce a high power microwave pulse with good repeatability and frequency stability for a long time and has a good development prospect. In order to improve the power gain, this paper studies the working characteristics of the energy extraction structure of the X-band energy storage switching pulse compression device. The theoretical analysis results show that the impedance mismatch exists in the traditional energy extraction structure after the pulse compression is transferred to the energy extraction stage and the energy extraction efficiency is not high, which results in the power gain limitation. Therefore, through theoretical calculation and simulation, an improved scheme based on output inductance diaphragm is proposed in this paper. The scheme has high power capacity and can achieve impedance matching without changing the resonant frequency of the energy storage cavity, so as to improve the power gain of the pulse compression device. The high power experimental results show that the power gain of the pulse compression device can be increased from 6.24 times to 7.22 times and the energy extraction efficiency can be increased by 17.5% by placing 17 mm slot spacing inductance diaphragm at 45 mm of the H-T arm of the waveguide, which verifies the feasibility of the improved scheme.

Investigation on Effects of HPM Pulse on UAV's Datalink

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is likely to be interfered by high-power microwave (HPM) pulse, especially its datalink. To investigate the effects of HPM pulse on the datalink of a UAV in a dynamic flight scenario, a tracking interference model for an HPM source toward a UAV is proposed, as well a dynamic flight model is also built to determine the HPM reception of the UAV's datalink. In order to predict the possible effects of HPM on the datalink, the tests on a certain type of UAV's datalink are carried out in the presence of HPM with its carrier frequency in L -, S - and C -band, respectively. The results show that the electromagnetic interference (EMI) can easily enter the receiver via front-door when the carrier frequency of the HPM falls into the operating frequency band of the datalink, which will lead to a permanent physical damage. However, when the carrier frequency deviates from the operating frequency band of the datalink, the EMI couples into the incomplete shielded power line via back-door and generates a high-voltage signal at the power port, resulting in a transient lost-link effect or even a functional failure of the datalink due to its abnormal electric power supply. Finally, some suggestions are put forward to improve the UAV's adaptability in the HPM environment.

Implementation of High Power Microwave Pulse Compressor

High-frequency power amplifiers can be equipped with complementary pulse-compressor systems to fulfill the advanced cavity power requirements. Microwave pulse compression is a power extraction method based on pulsewidth reduction and electronic triggering. The cavity is fed by pulsed-RF source, the resonance is evolved at $t\geq t_{0}$ , $t_{0}=\textrm {cavity}$ filling time. Established standing waves or resonance condition is brokendown by triggered plasma switch programmed with adjustable delay and pulsewidth. This causes the stored energy to be transmitted as shorter output RF-pulse. The implementation of a microwave pulse compression system requires careful measurements and structural modifications to be able to tune design parameters for optimal setup. In the scope of this paper, the experimental results are obtained for different waveguide lengths and various load configurations (to exploit new opportunities). All connections, iris configuration, and precise adjustment of plasma triggering have been set up cautiously. The cavity gain is increased up to 23 dB with trigatron driving improvements. High power requirements and demands are investigated for many applications, particularly for biomedical science projects.

Wakefield excitation by a powerful sub-nanosecond 28.6 GHz microwave pulse propagating in a plasma filled waveguide

High-power microwave pulse generation (∼1.2 GW, ∼0.4 ns, 28.6 GHz) by a super-radiant backward wave oscillator (SR-BWO) and the feasibility of wakefield-excitation with this pulse in a plasma-filled waveguide are presented. The SR-BWO is driven by an electron beam (∼280 keV, ∼1.5 kA, ∼5 ns) generated in a magnetically insulated foilless diode and propagating through a slow-wave structure in a guiding magnetic field of 8 T. The plasma produced by an array of flashboards filling a cylindrical wire-array waveguide attached at the exit of the SR-BWO is also characterized. 1D and 3D numerical simulations demonstrate that for the experimental parameters of the microwave pulse and the flashboard plasma filling the waveguide, a wakefield forms accompanied by significant periodic density modulations such that their radial location and depth can be controlled by the waveguide radius, plasma density, and microwave power.

Широкоапертурные жидкостные калориметры для измерения энергии мощных импульсов СВЧ-излучения

Широкоапертурные жидкостные калориметры для измерения энергии мощных импульсов СВЧ-излучения

Experiments and Comparisons of Power to Failure for SiGe-Based Low-Noise Amplifiers Under High-Power Microwave Pulses

This study demonstrates comparisons of power to failure for SiGe-based low-noise amplifiers by injecting high-power microwave pulses. A general equation was derived to calculate power to failure, which depends on pulse width and its duty cycle. Two types of silicon–germanium (SiGe) transistors were modeled, and their temperature distributions were simulated. The pulse thermal resistance, thermal capacitance, and breakdown temperature were calculated and determined. Results show that the power to failure of the two transistors depend on the number of slots, pulse thermal resistance, thermal capacitance, and breakdown temperature, although these transistors exhibit nearly similar structures. In addition, calculated and measured results show close correlations. A summary for calculating the power to failure of a type of SiGe transistor is provided.

Global model for high power microwave pulse breakdown in air and SF6

The breakdown in air and SF6 caused by a high power microwave pulse is investigated using a global model, respectively, in which the rate coefficients such as an ionization rate derived from the Boltzmann equation solver BOLSIG+ are adopted. The breakdown prediction from the global model agrees very well with experimental data. The relation curves among the effective breakdown threshold, pressure, and total duration of pulse with either different frequencies or different duration of pulse are nearly the same, but change with the background gas species. At atmospheric pressure, the breakdown threshold of SF6 for a long microwave pulse is about three times larger than that of air. However, the ratio decreases, when the gas pressure or the total duration of pulse is decreased.