Superconducting Filters for Deep Space Stations
Zuo Ta · Journal of Spacecraft TT&C Technology · 2014
The principle and the necessity of application of superconducting filters in deep space stations are introduced.Key technologies including power linearity and high reliability processes are analyzed.The paper proposes an innovative power handling filter design approach featuring a combination of two-dimensional resonators and one-dimensional resonators.Specifically,the first two stages of the HTS(High Temperature Superconductor)filter uses a two-dimensional resonator structure to improve the power handling capacity and the other stages use thin lines to ensure implementation of the HTS filter in size.Test results show that the 20-stage superconducting filter has an out-of-band power level greater than 4W while the out-of-band rejection is more than 130 dB.The noise temperature of the HTS receiver front-end is only 8K.The technology has been successfully applied in deep space stations and has been validated through Chang'e-3lunar exploration mission.