Discharges in TR tubes

A study has been made of the role of electron-attaching gases in controlling the high power characteristics of TR tubes. Arc loss and recovery time measurements have been made for discharges in a quartz cylinder TR input window. The effects of chlorine, bromine, hydrogen, and oxygen were investigated over a 2 to 20 Torr range. Extremely short recovery times of 0.02 to 0.20 µsec, have been observed for bromine and chlorine discharges at 1 to 40 kW peak power and 0.001 duty cycle at X-band. Arc loss values were in the 0.4 to 0.8 db range. Analysis of curves of attenuation versus time and recovery time versus arc loss has yielded values of electron attachment frequency. The analysis is based on variations of discharge conductivity and electron density with time. The measured attachment frequencies are compared with values obtained by other techniques and criteria are discussed for applying published electron attachment data to predicting recovery time behavior.