A fast multilayer window design tool, simulations and comparison with experiment

This paper presents the results from a new approach to UHV window design at Strathclyde University. The modelling of multilayer window structures using conventional commercial codes is time consuming and prone to numerical instabilities as the layer thicknesses are significantly less than a wavelength. We have used a scattering matrix approach to analyse the frequency dependence of the window reflection co-efficient combined with an automatic optimisation routine which determines the optimum layer thickness for maximum window return loss within the parameter space allowed by the operator. Results from these simulations are compared to both conventional commercial codes (Microwave Studio) and laboratory experiments.