M. Buyanova

Hybrid resonant modes of two-sided multipactor and transition to the polyphase regime

A plane parallel model of multipactor is studied in detail using both an analytical approach and numerical simulations. The analytical analysis is carried out within a widely exploited approximation, which assumes a fixed value for the initial velocity of secondary electrons. It is shown that the commonly accepted picture of the multipactor zones is not quite complete and should be modified by taking into account the existence of hybrid resonance modes and the important consequences of a secondary emission yield that significantly exceeds unity. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the chart of the multipactor zones is also very sensitive to a spread of the initial velocity of the electrons. In particular, the full effect of initial electron velocities cannot accurately be modeled by using a single fixed value only.

Multipactor discharge on a dielectric surface: Statistical theory and simulation results

This paper presents a novel theory for describing the initial stage of a single-surface multipactor discharge on a dielectric surface in the presence of a dc electric field, which returns secondary emitted electrons to the surface. The calculations employ a statistical method based on an exact analytical solution for the probability density of the arrival times of the secondary electrons. A general integral equation determining the steady-state distribution of the emission phases of the secondary electrons and the threshold of the multipactor growth is formulated. A computer program has been developed to implement this theory for realistic secondary yield curves and arbitrary, nonuniform, distributions for velocities and angles of emitted electrons. Susceptibility diagrams, applicable to a wide range of materials, are obtained in terms of the rf and dc electric fields and are found to be relatively independent of the emission distribution of the electrons.

Effect of emission velocity spread of secondary electrons in two-sided multipactor

Detailed numerical simulations of the two-sided multipactor have been carried out within a plane-parallel model. The main aim of the simulations is to clarify the uncertainty that still exists in the literature concerning the overlapping of multipactor zones. Three different codes (Monte Carlo, particle-in-cell, and statistical) were used to calculate the multipactor charts within a wide range of parameters such as spread of initial velocities of the secondary electrons and maximum value of the secondary emission yield. It was found that an increase in the spread of initial velocities results in overlapping of the multipactor zones, provided the secondary emission is high enough. In the opposite case, an increase in the spread of initial velocities leads to a suppression of the higher multipactor zones.

Multipactor in Microwave Transmission Systems Using Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying

A numerical simulation analysis is made of the effect of signal transmission using the quadrature phase-shift keying of a constant-amplitude RF carrier wave on the initiation of multipactor breakdown in RF devices operating under close-to-vacuum conditions. It is found that this form of signal modulation has a suppressing effect on the growth of the multipactor electron avalanche that depends on the parameters of the system. However, for technically realistic values of signal and phase-shift frequencies, the effect is found to be small.

Influence of secondary emission yield on the saturation properties of multipactor discharges between two parallel metal plates

A detailed numerical simulation analysis is made of the saturation stage of multipactor discharges between two infinite parallel metal plates in vacuum exposed to a rf voltage. The main physical effect causing saturation of the multipactor discharge is increased space charge, as the electron density becomes large. It is found that the properties of the saturation stage depend crucially on the value of the secondary emission yield of the metal surfaces. Below a certain threshold value, the discharge has a two-sided character, but at this threshold the discharge makes an abrupt transition into two decoupled single-sided multipactor discharges containing significantly increased electron densities. The result of the numerical simulations gives a good picture of the saturation properties of the multipactor discharge and is also supplemented by an approximate analytical investigation that highlights and explains the characteristic properties of the observed saturation behavior.