Quasi-optical 150-GHz power combining oscillator

A quasi-optical power combiner for a five-element in-line oscillator array is experimentally investigated at 150 GHz. The combiner consists of a periodic dielectric phase grating (hologram) which transforms the near-field of a rectangular horn antenna array into a pseudo-plane wave. The horn array is excited by IMPATT oscillators operating uniformly in both amplitude and phase. A dual offset reflector set-up transforms the pseudo-plane wave to a Gaussian beam which matches the field pattern of a dual mode receiving antenna. Even though an inter-element spacing of 9.5 /spl lambda/ has been chosen, the passive structure gives a power combining efficiency of 74.1%. The power combining oscillator has been operated in both free-running and injection-locked mode. A CW output power of 78.0 mW and 83.5 mW was measured for the free-running and injection-locked oscillator, respectively, which is corresponding to a power combining efficiency of 66.5% and 71.2%, respectively.