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To accelerate the design of a high-power microwave device, a deep learning assisted multi-objective optimization method is used to optimize a Ka-band relativistic backward-wave oscillator (RBWO) operating with a low magnetic field. Particle-in-cell simulation results show that the optimized RBWO with a tooth-shaped slow wave structure (SWS) can generate microwave pulses with an output power of 1.24 GW and an operating frequency of 26.8 GHz under a diode voltage of 623.3 kV, and the diode current is 6.56 kA at a guiding magnetic field of 0.8 T. Compared with the original RBWO, the output power of the optimized RBWO has been increased by 201.2%, and the beam-to-microwave conversion efficiency has increased from 10.0% to 30.3%. The detailed analysis reveals that in an overmoded RBWO with low guiding magnetic fields, the introduction of a tooth-shaped SWS is beneficial to mode competition, improves output power, and decreases microwave starting time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extension of a first-principle combined Monte Carlo method is proposed in this work to obtain the secondary electron emission characteristics of anisotropic crystal Al2O3. Unlike isotropic crystal Cu, density functional theory calculations reveal that the q-dependent energy loss function of Al2O3 in all directions is different. Therefore, an interpolation algorithm is introduced in the Monte Carlo method to determine the loss of energy and inelastic mean free path of electrons. The simulation results are in good agreement with experimental data. This method can be further used to simulate the secondary emission yield of other anisotropic crystal materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As biomolecules vibrate and rotate in the terahertz band, the biological effects of terahertz electromagnetic fields have drawn considerable attention from the physiological and medical communities. Ion channels are the basis of biological electrical signals, so studying the effect of terahertz electromagnetic fields on ion channels is significant. In this paper, the effect of a terahertz electromagnetic field with three different frequencies, 6, 15, and 25 THz, on the Kv1.2 potassium ion channel was investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The results show that an electromagnetic field with a 15 THz frequency can significantly enhance the permeability of the Kv1.2 potassium ion channel, which is 1.7 times higher than without an applied electric field. By analyzing the behavior of water molecules, it is found that the electromagnetic field with the 15 THz frequency shortens the duration of frozen and relaxation processes when potassium ions pass through the channel, increases the proportion of the direct knock-on mode, and, thus, enhances the permeability of the Kv1.2 potassium ion channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new dynamical model is built to describe the process of microwave window breakdown at the vacuum/dielectric interface. In this model, the effects of gas desorption and gas diffusion on breakdown are first taken into account. The evolution of the density of electrons and the neutral gas is analyzed. Particle-in-cell simulations are employed to validate this model, and the agreements of comparisons are favorable. The results show that the density of neutral gas decreases exponentially with the distance away from the dielectric surface. It is concluded that the gas diffusion is the main factor in the density reduction of neutral gas. With the influence of gas ionization, the number of electrons striking the dielectric surface increases. As a result, the gas pressure above the dielectric surface increases rapidly. In addition, the discharge formation time tc of microwave window breakdown decreases exponentially with the gas desorption rate. Besides, tc decreases with the energy of the first crossover point of the secondary electron emission curve when the strength of microwave electric field Erf is small. This dynamical model provides a solution to designing the microwave window. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vacuum surface flashover is the main factor limiting the development of pulsed power system. In this work, a quantitative dynamical model is built to investigate the vacuum surface flashover from field emission to secondary electron emission avalanche (SEEA). The results show that positive charges accumulating on the dielectric surface caused by field emission electrons play a dominant role when the normal electric field on the dielectric surface Edc is small. The growth of the number of positive surface charges exponentially decreases with the distance from the cathode triple junction (CTJ). With the increase in the density of positive surface charges, the growth of positive surface charges mainly depends on the secondary electrons cascade. As a result, the saturation state of Edc will first occur on the dielectric surface at a distance hundreds of micrometers from the CTJ. In addition, the effect of dielectric permittivity on positive surface charges is considered. The density of positive surface charges equals (1+εr) ε0Edc rather than 2ε0Edc. Particle-in-cell simulations are employed to verify the correctness of the theory model, and the agreement of comparisons is favorable. Furthermore, the space charge effect is discussed. When SEEA reaches saturation, electrons can significantly change the spatial distribution of the electric field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre-ionization caused by runaway electrons is an important mechanism for negative streamer development. The aim of this paper is to investigate the runaway criteria and overvoltage threshold of electrons at the initial stage of streamer development in air, with the self-developed 3D particle-in-cell with Monte Carlo Collision code. First, numerical simulations are performed with fixed number of electrons to study the runaway criteria in nonrelativistic cases. This method takes the stochastic fluctuations of collisions into account and solves the major shortcomings of theoretical approach. The simulated critical electric field is less than that of the theoretical approach, and the amplitude of the difference increases with electron energy, due to the "tunneling effect" caused by the stochastic fluctuations of collisions. Then, simulations of negative streamers at various applied voltages are performed to investigate the overvoltage threshold. A more intuitive method, searching energetic electrons in front of the negative streamer head, which corresponds to the nature of runaway electrons, is applied to determine the generation of runaway electrons. Electrons that escaped a certain distance ahead of the streamer can be observed at 30 kV. Thus, the overvoltage threshold for runaway electrons can be roughly estimated as 3.3 in our simulations, which is about three times less than the previously published one. At last, with the redefined overvoltage threshold, the figure of regions of breakdown development for various mechanisms depending upon the overvoltage in air is updated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasmonic devices work at visible and near-infrared frequencies, where a large number of bound electrons (polarization) in metals are excited. However, the existing particle-in-cell (PIC) software cannot take into account these bound electrons. In this paper, a new PIC simulation method is developed to study plasmonic devices, which has the ability to model both free electrons and bound electrons in metals. In this study, surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are excited by depositing excess electrons at one end of the metal film of thickness 140 nm (surrounded by air), thus initiating nonequilibrium in the electron density to start the oscillations. The spectrum, mode size, and propagation length of SPPs are calculated to confirm the electrical excitation of SPPs and characterize their properties. The excited SPPs are of a broad range of frequencies. Unlike SPPs excited by inelastic electron tunneling, the spectrum of SPPs excited in this way is not determined by e V b i a s but only by the properties of metals and dielectrics, and therefore the excited SPPs are intrinsic. The mode sizes of the intrinsic SPPs in the Ag–air geometry are 30 nm in Ag and 120 nm in air. The propagation length is ∼730 nm. The excited SPPs are converted into radiation modes by a sub-wavelength slit etched on the back side of the film to enable the detection of the radiation modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high power microwave window breakdown characteristics of N2–SF6 mixtures are investigated with 3D particle-in-cell and Monte Carlo collision simulation. The space and density distributions of electrons and ions are obtained. The results show that the threshold of breakdown increases with the ratio of SF6 when E/P is large. However, when E/P is small, the threshold of breakdown in 70% of SF6 and 30% of N2 is greater than that of pure SF6. This phenomenon is also observed in experiments. The theory analyses show that the energy loss of electrons is mainly caused by excitation collisions with N2 when the average energy of electrons Te is less than 6 eV and is dominated by excitation and ionization collisions with SF6 when Te is greater than 6 eV. When E/P is small, the proportion of low energy electrons is large and Te increases with the ratio of SF6. Therefore, the effective ionization rate first decreases and then increases as the ratio of SF6 increases. Thus, the optimal ratio for improving the insulation properties is 60%–80% SF6 when E/P is small. When E/P is large, the proportion of high energy electrons increases. Therefore, the effective ionization rate and density of electrons decrease as the ratio of SF6 increases. The maximum threshold of breakdown occurs when the ratio of SF6 is 100%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation and evolution of the cathode plasma in small-gap magnetically insulated transmission lines (MITLs) may lead to enormous current loss and even gap closure. This issue has been investigated through particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision simulations. Based on gas desorption from the cathode, the plasma is formed at the cathode when the emitted electrons collide with the desorbed gas contaminants. The expansion velocity and the electron and ion density distributions of the cathode plasma were analyzed. Rapid expansion of the plasma occurs when plasma instability increases due to a transverse magnetic mode in the MITL. Factors affecting the expansion velocity such as voltage amplitude and rate of gas desorption were examined. The simulation results indicated that a relatively high desorption rate of neutral gas resulted in a higher expansion velocity for the cathode plasma. This work extends our knowledge and understanding of cathode plasma dynamics in high-current MITLs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In sub-THz communication systems, compact, high-power, tunable radiation sources are required. Backward wave oscillators (BWO) have been practical devices for THz communication, but the maximum output power can be several times more than the minimum in the operation frequency range. To obtain the low peak-to-average ratio (LPAR) of the maximum power to the average power, the local maximum output power in the operation frequency range is first found theoretically and verified by particle-in-cell simulation. The LPAR 850 GHz BWO is then proposed. It applies a corrugated rectangular waveguide slow-wave structure, whose geometrical parameters are optimized using a multi-constrained optimization method. The optimized BWO operating in the frequency range from 790 to 882 GHz is simulated by the CST Particle Studio. The device can deliver at least 0.58 W with a LPAR of 1.08 when the conductivity of the slow-wave structure is 5.96 × 107 S/m. For a smaller conductivity of 3 × 107 S/m, the BWO can deliver at least 0.4 W with a LPAR of 1.13. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative and positive ions crossing the anode-cathode gap of a magnetically insulated transmission line (MITL) can cause non-negligible current loss and energy deposition on the electrodes, which may lead to the formation of anode plasma and the growth of cathode plasma. Furthermore, gap closure could occur due to the expansion of cathode plasma and anode plasma. In this paper, a model for magnetic insulation of both negative ion flow and positive ion flow is developed. The operating voltage V of the MITL is expressed as a function of the total current I0 and the boundary current Ib. The total current and the boundary current of the MITL are derived at saturated and self-limited flows, respectively. In addition, particle-in-cell simulations are implemented for the validation of the theoretical model. The thickness and density of the magnetically insulated ion layers are analyzed, and an empirical expression for space charge factor g is obtained through simulation results. This work extends the understanding of magnetically insulated ion flow in MITLs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The curved structure of a coaxial magnetically insulated transmission line (MITL) causes it to generate a nonuniform azimuthal magnetic field, which can disturb the electron flow and lead to a higher current loss when compared with a straight MITL. In this paper, the current loss mechanism and nonuniformity of the azimuthal magnetic field inherent to curved MITLs are investigated using theoretical analysis and particle-in-cell simulations. Results show that the critical current for magnetic insulation of the curved MITL increases with nonuniformity of the azimuthal magnetic field. The magnitude of the azimuthal magnetic field of the curved MITL can be described by a cosine distribution, lower in the outer region and higher in the inner region of the curved MITL. Nonuniformity of the azimuthal magnetic field decreases as electron current increases. Finally, an empirical expression relating to the structural parameters of curved MITLs is obtained for nonuniformity of the azimuthal magnetic field, which can be used to estimate the critical current for magnetic insulation in curved MITLs. This work extends the understanding of magnetic insulation in curved coaxial transmission lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the introduction of the gas diffusion model, the surface flashover at the insulator–vacuum interface perpendicular to electrodes is simulated with the particle-in-cell method. The distributions of density of electrons, ions, and neutral gas molecules are obtained, which is consistent with images diagnosed in the experiment. The gas pressure at the dielectric surface near electrodes is much higher than it is at other locations. Furthermore, the processes of vacuum surface flashover for angled dielectric insulators are analyzed. The results show that negative charges will accumulate on the dielectric surface when the negative angle is large. The electric field produced by negative charges weakens the normal electric field and emission current on the cathode triple junction. Moreover, the process of secondary electron emission is completely suppressed when the negative angle is large. With the development of gas desorption, the breakdown will evolve from field emission into gas ionization. Therefore, when the angle is negative, the threshold of surface flashover first decreases then increases with the angle, which is in good agreement with laws obtained in experiments. This study can provide a deep understanding to the vacuum surface flashover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multipactor statistical modeling is one vital theoretical treatment for both multipactor mechanism analysis and threshold prediction, but its practical application is still severely constrained due to its obstinate dependence on the electron trajectory formula. Hence, this paper proposes a novel and general implementation method to improve the feasibility and accuracy of one-dimensional (1D) multipactor statistical modeling, where the joint probability density function is constructed through numerically tracking electron trajectories. On that basis, better agreement with the experimental results is obtained for multipactor threshold predictions of coaxial lines than the classical statistical calculations adopting the approximate electron trajectory formula. Besides the accuracy improvement, this approach also makes multipactor statistical modeling regardless of the field complexity and thus applicable to investigating any one-dimensional multipactor problem in microwave devices. This research work can further popularize the application of multipactor statistical modeling and provide one highly sought treatment with both good accuracy and efficiency for the optimal design of multipactor-free microwave devices, thus further promoting the development of space communication capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To suppress microwave window breakdown, an external parallel dc bias electric field is applied to sweep out the electrons from the discharge zone. The development of microwave window breakdown under an external dc electric field is investigated using particle-in-cell and Monte Carlo collision simulation. The results show that the number of multipactor electrons decreases with the strength of the external unidirectional dc electric field when the size of the microwave window is finite. In addition, the threshold of breakdown is strongly influenced by the direction of the external bidirectional dc electric field. When the electric field is directed from the center to the edge of the microwave window, breakdown occurs more readily than in the absence of the electric field. However, when the electric field is directed toward the center of the microwave window, the discharge process starts at the edge of the window and develops to the center of the window. This is because a smaller density of electrons at the window edge results in a smaller gas pressure and the low gas pressure above the dielectric surface thus makes formation of the plasma more difficult. As a result, the early stage of breakdown is suppressed and the maximum transmitting power is enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction of an electromagnetic wave with a relativistic ionization front with frequency up-conversion has been demonstrated by the particle-in-cell (PIC) method. In the PIC simulation, the plasma ionization front is formed by using an electron beam ionizing the background gas. The PIC results are in good agreement with the basic analytic theory. In addition, the charged particles are modulated in the interaction area observed in the PIC simulation, which is hardly obtained by other methods. Based on the verified PIC methods, a relativistic hollow ionization front for frequency up-conversion of microwave to terahertz radiation is proposed for increasing the reflection cross section. Finally, the reflected energy can be increased by at least 3 orders of magnitude compared to the traditional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasma pattern transition in a symmetric hybrid structure cavity device at micrometer scale is researched through microplasma interaction in intervening microchannel between adjacent cavities while manipulating electric field strength. Plasma distribution reconfiguration in central (objective) cavity is observed when sidearm (donor) cavities are ignited. As long as coupling effect occurred by modulating the electric field strength in the sidearm cavities, stable plasma pattern transition in objective cavity is obtained, exhibiting plasma pattern split from one circular spot (initial pattern) to two small circular spots (transited pattern), along with plasma peak emission intensity displacement over 100 μm to its equilibrium position. The shape of transited plasma patterns are depending on the coupling effect from sidearm cavities. The two circular spots unsymmetrically distributed if either donor cavity is ignited, and the ratio of average emission intensity between the two plasma spots is over 30%, however, which is less than 4% if coupling symmetrically occurred. The electrical and optical properties of central microplasma are also modulated, that the breakthrough voltage is decreased by 22% and emission intensity is improved by ∼30%, by means of plasma coupling. The microplasma pattern formation at micrometre scale and manipulation of the electrical properties in microscale cavity implies significant value in the application of plasma transistor and signal processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, emphasis is put on passive intermodulation (PIM) caused by multipaction. The results are calculated by particle-in-cell simulation under the conditions of 2-tone and 4-tone carriers. A temporal evolution of the number of particles with different carrier powers is presented. The input and output signals in the time domain and the power spectrum densities of these signals in the frequency domain under different conditions are compared. The relationship between multipaction and PIM interference is discussed. It shows that the appearance of the PIM phenomenon follows the occurrence of saturation of multipactor discharge and the powers of PIM products basically increase as the carrier powers grow. In addition, to suppress the occurrence of PIM interference, an external magnetic field is added in the direction perpendicular to the electric field, which is a practical way to inhibit multipaction, and the effectiveness and the reliability of this method are also verified by simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the introduction of an external circuit model and a gas desorption model, the surface flashover on the plane insulator-vacuum interface perpendicular to parallel electrodes is simulated by a Particle-In-Cell method. It can be seen from simulations that when the secondary electron emission avalanche (SEEA) occurs, the current sharply increases because of the influence of the insulator surface charge on the cathode field emission. With the introduction of the gas desorption model, the current keeps on increasing after SEEA, and then the feedback of the external circuit causes the voltage between the two electrodes to decrease. The cathode emission current decreases, while the anode current keeps growing. With the definition that flashover occurs when the diode voltage drops by more than 20%, we obtained the simulated flashover voltage which agrees with the experimental value with the use of the field enhancement factor β = 145 and the gas molecule desorption coefficient γ = 0.25. From the simulation results, we can also see that the time delay of flashover decreases exponentially with voltage. In addition, from the gas desorption model, the gas density on the insulator surface is found to be proportional to the square of the gas desorption rate and linear with time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The excitation dynamics and self-oriented plasma coupling of a micro-structure plasma device with a rectangular cross-section are investigated. The device consists of 7 × 7 microcavity arrays, which are blended into a unity by a 50 μm-thick bulk area above them. The device is operated in argon with a pressure of 200 Torr, driven by a bipolar pulse waveform of 20 kHz. The discharge evolution is characterized by means of electrical measurements and optical emission profiles. It has been found that different emission patterns are observed within microcavities. The formation of these patterns induced by the combined action between the applied electric field and surface deactivation is discussed. The microplasma distribution in some specific regions along the diagonal direction of cavities in the bulk area is observed, and self-oriented microplasma coupling is explored, while the plasma interaction occurred between cross adjacent cavities, contributed by the ionization wave propagation. The velocity of ionization wave propagation is measured to be 1.2 km/s to 3.5 km/s. The exploration of this plasma interaction in the bulk area is of value to applications in electromagnetics and signal processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanosecond pulsed plasma has an enormous potential in many applications. In this paper, the characteristics of barrier free nanosecond pulsed surface discharge are investigated by the use of an actuator with a strip-strip film electrode configuration, including the effect of electrode width and the gap distance on the plasma morphology and electrical characteristics at atmospheric pressure. It was found that it is relative easier to generate a quasi uniform discharge with a thinner electrode width and a smaller gap distance. The underlying physical mechanism was also discussed. Besides that, the influence of airflow on repetitive pulsed surface discharge was examined. By comparing to the discharge produced by two different pulse waveforms in airflows, we found that the discharge driven by a faster pulse behaves more stable. Finally, a model was developed to analyze the interaction of the airflow and the discharge channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influences of wall-charge accumulation on gas dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) breakdown threshold and sustaining voltage margin of alternating current plasma display panel (AC-PDP) were investigated. It is observed that wall-charge accumulation results in a remarkable increase of gas DBD breakdown threshold during sustaining discharge period. Sustaining voltage margin is reduced by the threshold increase. A larger margin can be obtained when the threshold is decreased by removing unfavorable influence of wall-charge accumulation. Compared with normal margin, improved margin has a larger value and a faster linear increase with increasing wall-charge voltage. That indicates a way to improve AC-PDP performances remarkably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statistical multipactor theories are critical prediction approaches for multipactor breakdown determination. However, these approaches still require a negotiation between the calculation efficiency and accuracy. This paper presents an improved stationary statistical theory for efficient threshold analysis of two-surface multipactor. A general integral equation over the distribution function of the electron emission phase with both the single-sided and double-sided impacts considered is formulated. The modeling results indicate that the improved stationary statistical theory can not only obtain equally good accuracy of multipactor threshold calculation as the nonstationary statistical theory, but also achieve high calculation efficiency concurrently. By using this improved stationary statistical theory, the total time consumption in calculating full multipactor susceptibility zones of parallel plates can be decreased by as much as a factor of four relative to the nonstationary statistical theory. It also shows that the effect of single-sided impacts is indispensable for accurate multipactor prediction of coaxial lines and also more significant for the high order multipactor. Finally, the influence of secondary emission yield (SEY) properties on the multipactor threshold is further investigated. It is observed that the first cross energy and the energy range between the first cross and the SEY maximum both play a significant role in determining the multipactor threshold, which agrees with the numerical simulation results in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoionization plays an important role in the mechanism of positive streamer discharges in air. The photoelectron production rate at high pressures is significantly overestimated in the widely used quantitative photoionization model in nitrogen-oxygen mixtures. A new photoionization model is proposed to surmount this disadvantage approximately by tracking the generation and deactivation of high excited states of N2. Implementation, validation, and discussion of the new photoionization model are presented in this paper. The photoionization coefficient, the fraction of nitrogen ionization events that leads to oxygen photoionization events without quenching, is computed in the new model. It decreases with the increasing pressure when E/p is constant, which agrees with the early experimental results and corrects the overestimation of the photoionization coefficients at high pressures to some extent. Simulations of positive streamers show that the generation and deactivation of high excited states of N2 weaken the discharge of nitrogen and enhance the nonlocal discharge of oxygen with a time delay in the new model. The time delay slows down the positive streamer discharges in our simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]