Investigation of failure mechanisms in high -power microwave transmission windows.

Abstract

Thermal runaway and window failure restrict the power output of high power (∼1 MW), long pulse length (∼10 sec) gyrotrons used for plasma heating in magnetic confinement fusion experiments. Chemical vapor deposition diamond is used as window material due to its low loss tangent and high thermal conductivity, but still suffers from occasional, unpredictable failure. With the use of a simple model, it is shown that a uniform thin film of contaminant on a microwave window may absorb up to 50 percent of the incident power, even if the film thickness is only a small fraction of its resistive skin depth. The fraction of power absorbed by thin films on diamond gyrotron windows is estimated by comparison with published data obtained via two different experimental routes. Typically about a fraction of one percent of the incident power is absorbed by the thin films. Discontinuous surface films, where the surface contaminants have a patchy or island structure, are modeled with an equivalent transmission line circuit. Patchy surface contaminants on diamond gyrotron windows do not contribute significantly to the overall power absorbed on the window surface. An unexpected result is that most of the power is absorbed on the 'clean' window surface. The uniform thin film model is therefore adequate to describe surface power losses for diamond windows. The discontinuous film model, applied to alumina windows with TIN coatings, shows power absorption values of approximately 0.1--0.3%. Graphitic contaminants embedded in the CVD diamond absorb RE power from both the RE electric and magnetic field components. The absorbed power is insufficient to cause significant heating or cause graphitization in the diamond. The power absorbed in a diamond gyrotron window causes thermal gradient stresses in the window, with the maximum tensile stress occurring close to the window edge. For power absorption values up to 2000 W, the tensile stresses alone are insufficient to cause mechanical failure. For power absorption greater than about 2000 W the window edge temperature rise is sufficient to cause boiling of the cooling water circulating around the window periphery, which could lead to thermal runaway.