Active radio frequency pulse compression using switched resonant delay lines

This paper presents a study and design methodology for enhancing the efficiency of the SLED II RF pulse-compression system. This system employs resonant delay lines as a means of storing RF energy. By making the external quality factor of these lines vary as a function of time, the intrinsic efficiency of the system can reach 100%. However, we demonstrate a considerable increase in efficiency even if the change of the quality factor is limited to a single event in time. During this event, the quality factor of the lines changes from one value to another. The difference between these two values is minimized to simplify the realization of the quality factor switch. We present the system optimum parameters for this case. We also show the extension of this system to two events in time, during which the quality factor of the line changes between three predetermined states. The effects of the losses due to the delay lines and the switch used to change the quality factor are also studied