High power electromagnetic dispersion control structures : manufacturing and characterisation from X to Ka band frequencies

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Ronald, Kevin and Donaldson, Craig and Donaldson, Karen and Speirs, David and MacInnes, Philip and Wilson, Kieran and Whyte, Colin and Tammas-Williams, Sam and Uzdowski, Kacper and Robertson, Craig and Young, Alan and Schamiloglu, Edl and MacLachlan, Amy Jane (2026) High power electromagnetic dispersion control structures : manufacturing and characterisation from X to Ka band frequencies. Proceedings of SPIE: The International Society for Optical Engineering, 14022. 1402217. ISSN 1996-756X (https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3094847)

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Abstract

Vacuum electronics, a critical technique for the generation of powerful microwave signals, depends on achieving phase synchronism between streams of electrons and electromagnetic waves, usually confined by a waveguide. Many techniques require subtle metallic structures with complex mechanical connectivity to mediate the phase speed of the electromagnetic signals over a range of frequencies to enable this synchronism. The emergence of additive manufacturing techniques offers significant potential to impact on this requirement, which is increasingly difficult to meet as feature sizes decrease as applications emerge demanding higher frequencies. Challenges remain however for these novel fabrication methods, as the materials used in vacuum electronics need to be non-porous, must be able to withstand extreme temperatures during fabrication and bakeout procedures, so any inclusions and defects can be problematic. Furthermore, as frequencies increase the effective conductivity of the metallic surfaces decreases, and becomes very sensitive to the surface roughness. This leads to increased microwave power loading of the surfaces and losses in the transmitted signals, whilst larger scale imperfections in the profile can lead to loss in the required wave dispersive behavior. The Universities of Strathclyde, New Mexico and Edinburgh are therefore undertaking quantitative comparative investigation of the performance of components manufactured by additive methods compared to more conventional electrodeposition.

ORCID iDs

Ronald, Kevin ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8585-0746, Donaldson, Craig ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6627-2461, Donaldson, Karen, Speirs, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5705-6126, MacInnes, Philip ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2882-9817, Wilson, Kieran, Whyte, Colin ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5431-2443, Tammas-Williams, Sam, Uzdowski, Kacper, Robertson, Craig ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3552-466X, Young, Alan ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3494-1242, Schamiloglu, Edl and MacLachlan, Amy Jane ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8960-1683;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:97138
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    12 June 2026
    Published
    12 January 2026
    Accepted
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:31 Aug 2026 14:29
    Last modified:26 Sep 2026 11:40
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/97138
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