Gas selection and calculation of its breakdown field for plasma waveguide limiter

To protect electronic systems against high power microwave, a plasma waveguide limiter is presented. The threshold breakdown electric fields of He, Ne, Ar, Xe and H2, which are filled in the limiter, are deduced as a function of gas pressure and microwave frequency. Under high pressure (1 333~133 320 Pa), the breakdown fields increase as pressure increases, and Ne has the lowest breakdown field compared with the other gases. Under low pressure (1.333 2~133.32 Pa), the breakdown fields decrease as pressure increases, and Xe has the lowest breakdown field. The breakdown field of gases under high pressure is higher than that of gases under low pressure. The calculation results show that the limiter filled with Xe with pressure about 133.32 Pa can protect the electronic systems against high p