Exceptionally-enhanced Q-factor sapphire-loaded-cavity TE01δ mode resonators

An innovative method of enhancing the quality factor of TE_01δ cavity resonators with a dielectric tube made of monolithic sapphire is presented. Very high Q-factor is achieved by employing a Bragg reflection technique. A TE_01δ mode in a copper cavity was measured to have a Q-factor of 1×10⁵ at 8.78 GHz and 290 K. This is only 30% less than the limit due to the loss tangent of the dielectric material. The technique confines electromagnetic energy in the sapphire dielectric and in the vacuum well away from the cavity walls, thus reducing the surface losses in the copper shield. The technique offers some significant advantages over other methods. One advantage is the very low spurious mode density, which can improve filter and resonator design capabilities. Another is the small compact design, with a single sapphire piece, as compared to previously published Bragg reflection techniques. Finite element simulations and experimental data for this method were compared and found to be in very good agreement. The cavity dimensions were optimized to achieve maximum quality-factor.