Modeling Gas Breakdown in High Quality-Factor Resonators at GHz to THz Frequencies

摘要

Inducing gas breakdown at frequencies higher than a few GHz is challenging due to a diminishing electron oscillation amplitude. As a result, it is inefficient to generate plasmas with sources in the THz frequency range. However, microplasmas of very high density are possible only at higher driving frequencies. One method of improving gas breakdown efficiency at THz frequencies is to use high quality-factor resonators. We present a physical and numerical model used to compute the eigenmodes of electron number density and the corresponding critical breakdown fields in high quality-factor resonators. Our frequency-domain approach decouples the calculation of electromagnetic cavity eigenmodes from the gas breakdown calculation. The resulting numerical framework is used to calculate breakdown thresholds in 1D and 2D all-dielectric resonator geometries.