High-Q Tuneable 10-GHz Bragg Resonator for Oscillator Applications

This paper describes the design, simulation, and measurement of a tuneable 9.365-GHz aperiodic Bragg resonator. The resonator utilizes an aperiodic arrangement of non (λ/4) low-loss alumina plates (εr = 9.75, loss tangent of 1×10−5 to 2 × 10−5) mounted in a cylindrical metal waveguide. Tuning is achieved by varying the length of the center section of the cavity. A multi-element bellows/probe assembly is presented. A tuning range of 130 MHz (1.39%) is demonstrated. The insertion loss S21 varies from −2.84 to −12.03 dB while the unloaded Q varies from 43 788 to 122 550 over this tuning range. At 10 of the 13 measurement points, the unloaded Q exceeds 100 000, and the insertion loss is above −7 dB. Two modeling techniques are discussed; these include a simple ABCD circuit model for rapid simulation and optimization and a 2.5-D field solver, which is used to plot the field distribution inside the cavity.