Experimental Study of the Multipactor Effect in a Partially Dielectric-Loaded Rectangular Waveguide

This letter presents the experimental study of the multipactor threshold in a partially dielectric-loaded rectangular waveguide, whose results validate a multipactor model recently developed by the authors, which includes the charge distribution appearing on the dielectric surface during the multipactor discharge. First, the variation of the multipactor RF voltage threshold has been theoretically analyzed in different waveguide configurations: in an empty waveguide, and also in the cases of a one-sided and two-sided dielectric-loaded waveguides. To reach this aim, an in-house Monte Carlo simulation tool has been developed. The Secondary Electron Yield (SEY) of the metallic and dielectric materials used in the numerical simulations have been measured experimentally. Finally, an aluminum WR-75 symmetric E-plane rectangular waveguide transformer has been designed and fabricated, in which several multipaction tests have been carried out to validate the in-house software tool, demonstrating an excellent agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data. ; This work was supported by the Agencia Estatal de Investigaci´on (AEI) and by the Uni´on Europea through the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional - FEDER - “Una manera de hacer Europa” (AEI/FEDER, UE), under the Research Projects TEC2016-75934-C4-2-R and TEC2016-75934-C4-1-R.