Effect of air breakdown in near-field region on maximum power radiated from aperture antenna

Abstract

The high-power microwave easily causes the air breakdown in the near-field region of an antenna that is one of major factors to limit the enhancement of the radiation power at present. We study the maximum radiation power of a circular aperture antenna at which the maximum electric field in the near-field region equals the breakdown electric field in air, by using the field equivalent principle along with the global model. Results show that, with the pulse width increasing, the maximum radiation power decreases. The larger the antenna radius, the higher power can be radiated. The field distribution on the aperture has an obvious impact on the maximum radiation power.

Keywords:

• Air breakdown
• circular aperture antenna
• maximum radiation power
• high-power microwave
• field equivalent principle
• global model

Acknowledgements

The authors greatly appreciate the reviewers earnest and professional revision suggestions and comments.

Notes

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China, and in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under [grant number 61501358], [grant number 61431010].