Design of a Broadband Quasi-Optical Mode Converter for $W$ -Band Gyro-TWTs

Mode converters for millimeter waves can reduce the transmission loss, generate the desired mode, and facilitate the application of high-power sources. A W-band broadband quasi-optical mode converter which converts a TE0,1 cylindrical waveguide mode into a linearly polarized Gaussian TEM00 mode has been realized and tested in this paper. The converter is composed of a wavefront transforming mirror, a polarization grating, and a phase correcting system. In order to obtain high conversion efficiency over a wide bandwidth and make the structure of the mode converter much simple and compact, the propagation path of the beam is optimized and a wavefront transforming mirror realized by an ellipsoidal mirror rather than a nonquadratic mirror is introduced. The conversion process in each section is displayed and the working principles are discussed in detail. The mode conversion characteristics are investigated by analyzing the measured radiation field pattern. Results of the measurement agree well with the numerical calculations. The proposed W-band mode converter has a conversion bandwidth of 21% when the mode conversion efficiency is over 95% and the cross polarization is below 1.7%. In addition to high conversion efficiency, low cross-polarization, and broad bandwidth, this converter features easy construction and compact structure.