Optical Observation of Discharge Phenomena on High Power Microwave Antennas

Abstract

  We are developing high power microwave antennas whose power is more 100 W/m² for spacecrafts. Discharge may occur a lot of noise, energy losses and microwave system malfunctions. Therefore, we must suppress discharge phenomena on the antennas. In the space environment, their mechanism is different from one in the ground. And it depends on their shape and material. In this study, we used vacuum chamber simulated space environment and observe discharge phenomena on high power microwave antennas using optical cameras. From the results, we estimated their mechanism and tested for effectiveness of their suppression methods.