Phenomenology of microwave coupling. Part I

Technical Report · Thu Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:6210654

King, R J; Breakall, J K; Hudson, H G; Morrison, J J; McGevna, V G; Kunz, K S; Ludwigsen, A P; Gnade, D K

Recent advances in the development of high power microwave sources have increased the potential for future deployment of microwave weapons. A key ingredient in being able to predict the vulnerability of military systems to such threats involves understanding the phenomenology of how electromagnetic energy couples into cavity-like objects, or the so-called back-door coupling. A similar but much longer standing problem is that of nuclear electromagnetic pulses (EMP) in which the frequencies extend up to several hundreds of MHz. However, compared to EMP coupling, microwave coupling (from 1 GHz to above 40 GHz) is distinctively different because the wavelength is comparable to the size of the ports of entry (apertures, seams, cracks, protruding connectors, etc.). These ports of entry and the interior configuration of a vulnerable system are no longer below cutoff, and can permit significant penetration of the microwave energy into susceptible electronic systems. In fact, these coupling paths can be highly resonant at certain microwave frequencies, making the shielding against microwave threats difficult. This report summarizes the initial efforts at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to study the phenomenology of back door coupling at the low microwave frequencies (up to 2.5 GHz). These studies were limited to 2.5 GHz because the limitations of the Electromagnetic Transient Range Facility.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6210654
• Report Number(s): UCID-20215; ON: DE85003097
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420200* -- Engineering-- Facilities
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& Techniques
COUPLING
ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
EXPLOSIONS
MICROWAVE EQUIPMENT
MICROWAVE POWER TRANSMISSION
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
POWER TRANSMISSION
PULSES
RADIATIONS
WEAPONS