Low insertion loss microplasma-based limiter integrated into a microstrip bandpass filter

Romain Pascaud (1) , Francisco Pizarro (2) , Thierry Callegari (3) , Laurent Liard (3) , Olivier Pigaglio (4) , Olivier Pascal (5)

1 DEOS - Département Electronique, Optronique et Signal
2 PUCV - Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
3 LAPLACE-GREPHE - Groupe de Recherche Energétique, Plasmas et Hors Equilibre
4 LAPLACE - LAboratoire PLasma et Conversion d'Energie
5 LAPLACE-GRE - Groupe de Recherche en Electromagnétisme

The use of microplasma discharges as power-induced limiter elements in microstrip devices is proposed to protect receivers against high-power microwave threats. A microstrip bandpass filter integrating such a microplasma-based active microwave power limiter has been designed and measured. Power limitation is observed when the input power exceeds 19 dBm with a leakage power of 14 dBm. Due to the gaseous properties of the active medium, the proposed structure exhibits a very low additional insertion loss of 0.06 dB.

Mots clés: Microwave limiters; Microstrip filters; Band-pass filters; Plasma devices

Domaines: Electromagnétisme; Plasmas; Electronique

Romain Pascaud, Francisco Pizarro, Thierry Callegari, Laurent Liard, Olivier Pigaglio, et al.. Low insertion loss microplasma-based limiter integrated into a microstrip bandpass filter. Electronics Letters, 2015, 51 (14), pp.1090-1092. ⟨10.1049/el.2015.1159⟩. ⟨hal-03519076⟩