Ferrite-varactor X-band limiter

The conventional method of achieving reliable receiver protection for sensitive microwave receivers is to use a limiter consisting of a plasma stage and a varactor stage. The plasma limiter is used to reduce the incident power to a level that can be safely limited by the varactor device. The major power that is incident on the varactor is the spike leakage pulse that is caused by the slow response time of the plasma device. The fast response time of the varactor makes it ideal for reducing the spike energy. The varactor cannot be used alone because of its limited power handling capacity and a catastrophic failure mechanism.