A detailed theoretical as well as experimental investigation has been made of the statistical properties of rf corona breakdown thresholds, relevant to situations where no artificial electron seeding is used and the electron breakdown avalanche is initiated from the weak naturally occurring electron seeding, primarily due to cosmic radiation. Good qualitative as well as quantitative understanding has been obtained concerning the statistical properties of the breakdown initiation process and its consequences for the observed breakdown threshold. Comparisons between theoretical predictions and experimental results show a good agreement.
This paper investigates the microwave breakdown threshold in a circular waveguide excited in the lowest order (TE11) mode, where the electric field strength depends on both the radius and the azimuthal angle. This analysis complements and extends previous investigations of breakdown in cylindrical waveguides and resonators that have been restricted to circularly symmetric waveguide modes so far. A simple analytical approximation of the breakdown threshold of the TE11 mode is found, using a direct variational approach. The predictions are compared with the results of numerical calculations and the agreement is found to be very good.
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