Effects of external magnetic and electric field on multipactor and plasma breakdown of high-power microwave window

Abstract

In this work, we investigated the effects of an external magnetic field, a DC electrostatic field, and a normal rf electric field on the multipactor and plasma ionization breakdown process near a microwave window by performing kinetic particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision simulations, and the underlying mechanism is also given. The magnetic field, parallel to the surface and perpendicular to the tangential rf field, can effectively suppress the electron multipactor process by delaying the electron incidence on the dielectric window and push the plasma breakdown bulk away from the dielectric window. However, when the magnetic field is too strong, the mitigation effect is not significant, and may even enhance the multipactor process at the beginning of the plasma breakdown. The external DC electrostatic field, perpendicular to the surface, can inhibit electron multipactor when it points toward the surface. On the other hand, when the DC electric field direction is reversed, then the electron multipactor process is found to be promoted, and the gas ionization bulk is closer to the dielectric window. The external normal rf electric fields perpendicular to the surface with small amplitudes are found to be capable of promoting the multipactor process. With increasing the amplitude of normal rf electric field, the multipactor process can be suppressed to some degree at the initial stage of the plasma breakdown and the gas ionization bulk region is kept away from the dielectric window surface.