A 10-Way Power Divider Based on a Transducer and a Radial Junction Operating in the Circular TM01 Mode

This work presents a 10-way Ku-band power divider using a mode transducer and a radial junction connected by an overmoded circular waveguide operating in the TM
₀₁
mode. The circular symmetry of this mode has been exploited to obtain a power divider with the rectangular output ports radially distributed along the broad wall of the waveguides in H-plane configuration. This topology provides the same amplitude and phase for all the output ports. At the same time, a compact profile has been obtained, introducing a simple manufacturing for the two components of the divider. The first component is a mode transducer converting the TE
₁₀
mode in the rectangular waveguide to the TM
₀₁
mode in the circular waveguide. It is based on a novel topology providing a very high purity in the mode conversion with an attenuation for the other propagating mode, the TE
_11c
, higher than 60 dB. The second component is a 10-way radial junction that must work under the excitation of the TM
₀₁
, whose special features, since this mode is not the fundamental one of the circular waveguide, will be highlighted. The final design has been validated with an experimental prototype, proposing a manufacturing based on four simple parts. This has been the key to obtain an experimental prototype with specifications in the state-of-the-art. The measured efficiency is better than 96.5% in a 16.7% relative frequency bandwidth from 11 GHz to 13 GHz, with return losses better than 25 dB in the common port. The measured difference between the signals at the output ports of the prototype is ±0.3 dB for the amplitudes and ±0.45° for the phases. A comparison of the obtained results with another divider based on the TE
₀₁
mode shows the potential of the presented design for becoming an alternative to the more extended TE
₀₁
-based power dividers.