Open AccessDesign and microwave measurement of a Ka‐band HE 11 mode corrugated horn for the Faraday rotator
Author(s) -
Li Fang,
Liu Guo,
Wang Li,
Balfour E. Agurgo,
Wang Jianxun,
Pu Youlei,
Luo Yong
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
iet microwaves, antennas and propagation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.555
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1751-8733
pISSN - 1751-8725
DOI - 10.1049/iet-map.2016.0288
Subject(s) - optics , faraday rotator , microwave , horn antenna , bandwidth (computing) , reflection coefficient , ka band , transmission coefficient , materials science , faraday effect , insertion loss , french horn , ku band , polarization (electrochemistry) , physics , acoustics , transmission (telecommunications) , electrical engineering , telecommunications , radiation pattern , engineering , antenna (radio) , magnetic field , quantum mechanics , chemistry , slot antenna
The Faraday rotator is an important component used to separate the launching and receiving electromagnetic waves in the transmission line for millimetre wave radar systems. It has lower insertion loss, higher isolation and power capabilities as compared with the waveguide isolators. In this study, a HE 11 mode corrugated horn for the microwave performance measurement of a Ka‐band Faraday rotator was designed, fabricated and cold tested. The corrugated horn has a high conversion efficiency of above 99% over a bandwidth of 4 GHz. It is short in length, at 44 mm and produces a well‐formed linearly polarised HE 11 mode. The polarised wave has a well‐defined primary lobe and a −26.7 dB side‐lobe and also achieves a cross‐polarisation of −57.4 dB. The measured microwave reflection coefficient of the corrugated horn was in good agreement with simulation results and the back‐to‐back transmission coefficient is above −0.7 dB over a bandwidth of 7 GHz for a distance of 2 mm between the horns. Except high conversion efficiency, broad bandwidth, low side‐lobes and low cross‐polarisation, this corrugated horn is short, simple and suitable for the microwave measurement of Faraday rotator.