Year Microwave Laboratory

Pre-Lab Questions and Reports

1
Pre-Lab Questions
M1- Reflex Klystron:
1- Explain the theory of operation of Reflex klystron.
2- Explain experimentally how to measure the variation of output power and
frequency with the repeller voltage of the reflex klystron.

M2- Gunn Oscillator:

1- Explain the theory of operation of Gunn diode.
2- Explain experimentally how to measure the threshold voltage of Gunn
diode.

M3- Directional Coupler and Sliding Screw Tuner:

1- Define the “Coupling (C)”, “Directivity (D)” and “Isolation (I)” of
directional coupler and show how we can measure them experimentally.
2- Explain experimentally how to measure the RL of a certain load using
directional coupler.

M4- Planer Transmission Line:

1- State the advantages of planar transmission lines and draw the
Microstrip/Slotline/CPW transmission lines.
2- State different types of Microstrip discontinues and explain their
equivalent circuit models.

2
M5- Microwave Cavities:
1- Show experimentally how we can measure the resonance frequency and
quality factor of a microwave cavity.
2- In the setup of the cavity experiment, what is the function of the second
isolator?

Experiments Reports
Note: in the reports below, QX refers to question number X found in the lab
notes of the experiment.

M1- Reflex Klystron:

1- Explain the theory of operation of the reflex klystron and state its main
specifications.
2- Explain the different ways to tune the reflex klystron and prove relation
(1) Page (8).
3- From the laboratory results find the modes of operation and find the
quality factor in all of these modes.
4- Using curve fitting, Plot the power vs. and Frequency vs. relations
to scale.
5- When applying a square wave to the repeller explain why the amplitude
of the applied signal should be chosen carefully.

M2- Gunn Oscillator:

1- Explain the theory of operation of Gunn diode and state its main
specifications.
2- What are the modes of operation of Gunn oscillator.
3- Why the Gunn oscillator in our setup is called “cavity controlled
oscillator” and what is the purpose of the movable short-circuit section.
4- Explain whether the Gunn diode in reverse bias can work as photodiode
or not.
5- From the laboratory results plot input power versus voltage and get
from graph.

M3- Directional Coupler and Sliding Screw Tuner:

A) Directional Coupler
1- Solve (assume C=10 dB).

3
 2- Solve and .

BOUNS: Suggest a setup in which you use the directional coupler (all
coefficients are known) to measure the (s11) of device under test, you are not
allowed to remove the device, how many detectors you will use?

B) Sliding Screw Tuner

3- Solve and .
4- Solve and prove that for the sliding screw tuner with
matched termination.
5- Search for the sign of β (The susceptance of the sliding screw tuner), is it
positive or negative (Inductive or Capacitive).

BOUNS: Solve (Read the experiment carefully and try Hint).

M4- Planer Transmission Line:

1. Solve .
2. Solve .
3. Solve

Bonus: Discuss the difficulties in implementing series stubs in Microstrip

technology (State your references).

NOTE: The load impedance and the operating frequencies for will be
given by the responsible TA in the Lab time.

4. Compare the circuit simulations of the Microstrip gap given in the

experiment with 3D EM simulations.
5. Repeat steps from 1 to 8 in section 3 in the experiment for the Microstrip
step discontinuity.

Bonus: It is required to derive simple equations to expect the values of the

equivalent circuit model parameters of the Microstrip Gap.

M5- Microwave Cavities:

1. Prove that:
2. Prove that: .

3. Prove that: and solve .

4
4. Using the formula given in the lab notes for the resonance frequency find
the lowest order mode that resonate at the resonance frequency measured
in the lab given that a=23mm b=11mm c=11cm. Then find the unloaded
quality factor using the formula given in the lab notes and give reason for
the difference between the calculated and measured value, the value of m,
n and p extracted from the first part of the question.
5. Design a rectangular waveguide resonator that operates at 9 GHz (Single
mode). The waveguide should support TE10 mode only in the X band
(8GHz-12GHz). Try to choose the transverse dimensions of the
rectangular waveguide to be close to a typical rectangular waveguide and
state its name.

Bonus: solve talking into consideration that the centre frequency of the
poor source can be tuned.