High power analysis and design of dual-mode channel filters

In this paper, we present two dual-mode channel filter topologies which are able to withstand more than 600 W in Ku-Band. The two different designs (one with elliptical cavities and the other one with rectangular cavities) implement the same transfer function: four order, elliptical response centered in 12 GHz, with 40 MHz bandwidth and two transmission zeros. It is shown that the critical dimensions for the power-handling of these filters are the dimensions of the input-output irises. In fact, in order to rigorously obtain these conclusions and to reach these high-power levels (including margins), it is essential to use the advanced numerical techniques described in the paper to predict the multipactor effect. Moreover, the standard approach for multipactor onset prediction based on computing the voltage inside the component is shown to be too conservative and difficult to apply to many practical filter configurations.