200MW pulsed power microwave source using ferroelectric dielectrics

This paper describes the use of barium strontium titanate, Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃, (BST) as a dielectric medium in a parallel plate transmission line to control the frequency response of a 200 MW high power microwave source. The physical dimensions of the dielectric were materialized for a desired frequency response at L-band frequencies and they were periodically aligned spatially with aluminum oxide for an increased output response. Previous experiments have used air to spatially separate the dielectric medium for periodicity 1.20 stages of BST and alumina pairs were bonded together in an epoxy to remove pockets of air from between dielectric layer of the transmission line and to introduce uniformity between the alumina and BST package. The resulting physical dimensions of the ceramic block were 7.5 mm x 25 mm x 42 mm. The results of this paper discuss the importance of the fabrication process.