A rotatable and flexible high-power-microwave waveguide joint

A novel high-power-microwave (HPM) waveguide joint is proposed in this paper. By combining the choke slot with the spherical structure, such a joint has not only good electrical performance but also good maneuverability. On the one hand, the choke slot can maintain low surface field strength and good field continuity at the waveguide junction, enabling its high power handling capacity and low insertion loss. On the other hand, the spherical structure is conducive to achieving angular rotation and radial deflection of the waveguide joint and thus improves its dynamic performance. As shown by the design results of the X-band waveguide joint, when the deflection angle does not exceed 2°, the maximal surface electric field is only about 300 kV/cm with 3 GW microwave input and the insertion loss is less than 0.12 dB within a relative bandwidth of 8%. The HPM experiment further demonstrates its high power handling capacity and low insertion loss.