A MULTIPACTOR THRESHOLD IN WAVEGUIDES: THEORY AND EXPERIMENT

New generation telecommunication satellites are designed to cater to a constantly increasing number of users, requiring higher and higher bit rates in the same frequency multiplex. The conjunction of both tendencies implies increasing power levels of rf equipment downstream from the power amplifiers. In this situation, different discharge phenomena may occur inside the microwave devices. The consequences may be damage on the equipment and link budget degradation. In a vacuum environment, microwave (multipactor) discharges inside rf equipment such as waveguides, are caused by an avalanchelike increase of electrons due to the secondary emission when electrons, accelerated by the electric field, hit the walls of the device. A joint project involving the Institute of Applied Physics (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia), Chalmers University of Technology, Geteborg, Sweden and Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (Toulouse, France) has been set up in order to study this phenomenon.