Effect of Electron Reflection in Multipaction Prediction for TE10 Mode Rectangular Waveguide Couplers

Elastic and inelastic reflections of electrons have been said to influence the initiation of multipaction in RF and microwave components. This research work uses a multipactor prediction algorithm to investigate this claim by comparing the enhanced counter function values of simulation scenarios that included reflected electrons and those that did not, for a series of power levels in a rectangular waveguide coupler configured for the TE10 propagation mode.  The results obtained suggested that, in the case where reflected electrons were properly accounted for, there were more power levels with larger values of enhanced counter function (or increased electron population) than the case where consideration was not given to reflected electrons. The results also indicated that, as a result of the consideration of reflected electrons, multipactor discharge event could occur where, under some current techniques multipactor, has been predicted not to occur.