Ultra Wideband Antennas for High Pulsed Power Applications

1.1 UWB antennas in the field of high pulsed power For the last few years, the generation of high-power electromagnetic waves has been one of the major applications of high pulsed power (HPP). It has aroused great interest in the scientific community since it is at the origin of several technological advances. Several kinds of high power radiation sources have been created. There currently appears to be a strong inclination towards compact and autonomous sources of high power microwaves (HPM) (Cadilhon et al., 2010; Pécastaing et al., 2009). The systems discussed here always consist of an electrical high pulsed power generator combined with an antenna. The HPP generator consists of a primary energy source, a power-amplification system and a pulse forming stage. It sends the energy to a suitable antenna. When this radiating element has good electromagnetic characteristics over a wide band of frequency and high dielectric strength, it is possible to generate high power electromagnetic waves in the form of pulses. The frequency band of the wave that is radiated can cover a very broad spectrum of over one decade in frequency. In this case, the technique is of undoubted interest for a wide variety of civil and military applications. Such applications can include, for example, ultra-wideband (UWB) pulse radars to detect buried mines or to rescue buried people, the production of nuclear electromagnetic pulse (NEMP) simulators for electromagnetic compatibility and vulnerability tests on electronic and IT equipment, and UWB communications systems and electromagnetic jamming, the principle of which consists of focusing high-power electromagnetic waves on an identified target to compromise the target’s mission by disrupting or destroying its electronic components. Over the years, the evolution of the R&D program for the development of HPM sources has evidenced the technological difficulties intrinsic to each elementary unit and to each of the physical parameters considered. Depending on the wave form chosen, there is in fact a very wide range of possibilities for the generation of microwave power. The only real question is