Slow Wave Coupling for Augmentation of Wireless Power Transfer in Noisy Environments

Techniques for wireless transfer of power are being investigated extensively by researchers in current years. The various techniques by which electromagnetic power can be transferred in a wireless manner can be loosely grouped into near and far field techniques. Near-field power transmission normally uses inductive coupling to transfer power from source to load, while far-field transfer involves slow-wave techniques for augmentation of power of the electromagnetic wave to be radiated. The present paper focuses on hardware based experiments for implementation of slow-wave coupling based amplification of radiated power. Transmitting and radiating pyramidal horn antennas are used during the experiments with klystron oscillator as source. The experimental data shows a maximum gain of over 10 dB above the maximum gain achieved without slow wave coupling.