Effect of Soliton Decomposition on Harmonic Levels in a Lumped NLTL Multiplier

A sinusoidal wave entering nonlinear transmission line (NLTL) multipliers undergoes an edge-sharpening effect. As a result, a sharpened waveform with rich harmonic content is obtained. However, the levels of generated harmonics decay monotonically, leading to poor conversion efficiency at higher-order harmonics. Another characteristics of NLTL multipliers is the propagation of solitons which can be exploited to generate harmonics more efficiently. Through soliton decomposition, the power transferred to higher-order harmonics can be increased. In this work, we have investigated a capacitive lumped NLTL multiplier through simulations and measurements. The effect of soliton decomposition on harmonic levels has been presented.