The goal of this thesis is to design a setup which can be used as a prototype for the TECH reactor. The TECH reactor is a cylinder with rounded edges, in which a microwave plasma will be formed....Show moreThe goal of this thesis is to design a setup which can be used as a prototype for the TECH reactor. The TECH reactor is a cylinder with rounded edges, in which a microwave plasma will be formed. The cavity should resonate with the right eigenmode at a constant frequency of 2.45 GHz, and the excitation structure should produce a reflection coefficient of smaller than 0.8, enabling a tuning device to maximize power transfer. These conditions must hold for a broad range of conductivities of the plasma. Firstly, the effect of a resonance frequency tuning ring inside the cavity was researched, in order to keep the right eigenmode at a constant frequency of 2.45 GHz. Secondly, the excitation structure was optimized to ensure that at the relevant plasma conductivities, the reflections from the setup were minimized. Later simulations yielded that for almost all conductivities of the plasma, the setup was sufficiently impedance matched to the waveguide to enable an auto tuning device to prevent reflections. Thirdly, unexpected eigenmodes of the cavity were discovered. Therefore, adjustments were made to the cavity such that the resonance frequencies of other modes would not be close to 2.45 GHz, to prevent the excitation of these modes. This thesis continued the work of De Man [3]. In the end, the simulations yielded promising results and the setup is almost fully designed. Soon, experiments with the electric field in the cavity can be carried out, which form an important step towards being able to measure plasma breakdown.Show less
