Axial ratio of an antenna illuminated by an imperfectly circularly polarized source

A method for determining the axial ratio of an antenna illuminated by an imperfectly circularly polarized source is described. This method requires measurements of the right- and left-handed amplitude components and their relative phases for both the receiving and transmitting (or source) antennas. From these measured data and, of course, the theory of power transfer between the source and receiving antennas, an algorithm is derived for the actual axial ratio of the receiving antenna. Illustrative results showing the effects of the phase angle are presented.