Modeling Investigation of Groove Effect on the Multipactor of Dielectric-Loaded Coaxial Low-Pass Filters

Abstract

Multipactor is a common discharge phenomenon occurring in space microwave systems. The surface microstructure has been verified to be effective in mitigating multipactor. In this work, we design a square coaxial low-pass filter (SCLPF) with dielectric sheets loaded to check the multipactor dependence on the structure parameters of the loaded dielectric sheets, and further model groove structures on the sensitive area surface to lower the risk of multipactor. Simulation results indicate that the SCLPF loaded with alumina and PTFE exhibits favorable operational characteristics, and the multipactor threshold is significantly improved after introducing the surface grooves. Then, we investigate the effects of three typical groove parameters, groove depth, groove number, and aspect ratio, on the multipactor threshold of the SCLPF device. The results show that the multipactor threshold rises at first as the groove number and groove depth increase, and then the threshold reaches a saturation status. For a deeper analysis of multipactor, we discuss how the grooves shelter the secondary electrons, and further mitigate the electron avalanche. Furthermore, the mechanisms of threshold saturation under the effect of groove parameters are analyzed in detail, and a contour map for the multipactor threshold of PTFE-loaded SCLPFs is given, which makes significant sense for predicting the multipactor threshold of the devices with its sensitive surface being grooved. The regularity of modulating the multipactor threshold by the groove structures obtained in this study is of engineering significance for suppressing multipactor in microwave devices in practical applications.