Microwave Breakdown in Waveguide Filters Theoretical and Experimental Investigations

This paper deals with undesirable microwave breakdown phenomenon that can appear in output multiplexer filters for telecommunications satellites. The first objective was to improve the theoretical investigation of the phenomenon by improving the accuracy of the breakdown numerical modeling based on a combination of three fields of science: electromagnetism, thermal transfer theory and plasma physics. The second objective was to validate the theoretical modeling by experimental tests. A specific structure has been designed and built and a dedicated measurement procedure has been proposed. As it will be shown, the test structure experimental behavior agrees well with the theoretical one. Consequently, the proposed numerical modeling of microwave breakdown is validated.