A Superconducting Microwave Power Limiter for High-Performance Receiver Protection

Published

June 11, 2004

Author(s)

James Booth, Kenneth Leong, Susan A. Schima

Abstract

We report on the development of a microwave power limiter based on high-temperature superconductor technology. The power limiter takes the form of a 50 ohm coplanar waveguide transmission line that can be reversibly driven from the low-loss superconducting state into the high- loss normal state as microwave currents within the device exceed a critical value. This device has demonstrated very low insertion loss (<0.5 dB/cm at 70 K, 40 GHz) and extremely wide bandwidth (constant impedance up to 40 GHz) in the signal-pass state, with variable attenuation in the signal-block state. Switching times for transitions from the signal-pass state to the signal-block state are estimated to be on the order of a nanosecond or less. Reversible operation has been demonstrated for continuous-wave (CW) signals up to 10 W at 3 GHz, and for 100 's transient signals up to 100 W. This device should be valuable for protecting high-performance receiver components from high-power transients encountered in real-world applications.

Proceedings Title

Dig., IEEE Microwave Theory Tech. Intl. Symp.

Conference Dates

June 6-11, 2004

Conference Location

Fort Worth, TX, USA

Conference Title

IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

high temperature superconductor, microwave power limiter

Citation

Booth, J. , Leong, K. and Schima, S. (2004), A Superconducting Microwave Power Limiter for High-Performance Receiver Protection, Dig., IEEE Microwave Theory Tech. Intl. Symp., Fort Worth, TX, USA (Accessed October 11, 2025)