Saturation Mechanism of Multipactor Effect in a One-Sided Dielectric-Loaded Waveguide

This study demonstrates the saturation regime of the multipactor effect in a one-sided, partial, dielectric-loaded rectangular waveguide. The Monte Carlo algorithm is used to simulate the multipactor effect. The temporal evolution of the secondary electrons is tracked numerically, and the electrostatic field is obtained by solving the Green’s function of the dielectric’s surface charge. It is found that the positive charge on the dielectric surface produces a nonuniform electrostatic field that finally breaks the resonant motion of the secondary electrons and causes the double-sided multipactor to reach a steady state on the dielectric surface. Although the generation of electrons on the metal surface does not cease, the production ratio can be remarkably attenuated. While the inhomogeneous radio frequency (RF) field prevents the large-scale multipactor effect in the dielectric-loaded rectangular waveguide, the electrostatic field would promote the generation of secondary electrons in the high RF electric field region where the multipactor effect cannot be triggered, resulting in the expansion of the multipactor zones in the saturation stage.