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US 4,035,688 AGranted
Electronic tunable microwave device
AssigneeThomson-CSF
InventorGeorges Mourier
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A device for providing a tunable impedance due to variations of a multipactor discharge; the device of the invention gives rise to low insertion losses when incorporated in another device, due to particular structure provides a longitudinal drift of the electrons of the discharge which thus have an elongated trajectory before stricking an electrode.
Claims10
A microwave device of electronically variable impedance comprising, in a vacuum enclosure:
- a multipactor device having two coaxial electrodes defining between them a multipactor space when a high frequency electromagnetic energy is applied there between and adapted to emit secondary electrons with a coefficient .delta. greater than unity (.delta.>1), the inner electrode being closed at one of its ends by an electrical conducting wall, and the external electrode extending away from this closed end in such a way that said multipactor space comprises a region of uniform high frequency electric field and a further region of non uniform high frequency electric field, thus providing in said further region an area of longitudinal drift for the electrons of the multipactor device such that, electrons of the discharge are moved away from the region of uniform electric field towards the further region;
- and
- means for applying between said two electrodes a control voltage for varying the impedance of the device.
A microwave device of electronically variable impedance comprising, in a vacuum enclosure:
- a multipactor device having two coaxial electrodes defining between them a multipactor space when a high frequency electromagnetic energy is applied therebetween and adapted to emit secondary electrons with a coefficient .delta. greater than unity (.delta.>1), the inner electrode being closed at one of its ends by an electrical conducting wall, and the external electrode extending away from this closed end in such a way that said multipactor space comprises a region of uniform high frequency electric field and a further region of nonuniform high frequency electric field, thus providing in said further region an area of longitudinal draft for the electrons of the multipactor device such that electrons of the discharge are moved away from the region of uniform electric field towards the further region;
- means for applying between said two electrodes a control voltage for varying the impedance of the device;
- and means for producing a non-uniform continuous magnetic field, said means being so disposed that the magnetic field applied to the device decreases along the direction of the longitudinal axis of the two electrodes and towards the closed end of the inner electrode-- i.e., the corresponding end of the outer electrode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.