A Tunable Ferrite Isolator for 30 GHz Millimeter-Wave Applications

In this article, a tunable ferrite-loaded isolator working at millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) frequency for applications in multi-function systems is presented. The device is based on nonreciprocal coupling between a ferrite slab and a half-mode substrate-integrated waveguide (HMSIW). The HMSIW offers a compact design and, more important here, the ability of energy coupling to adjacent resonators. The ferrite slab is placed outside the HMSIW, close to the H-wall symmetry of the HMSIW, providing the possibility of movement for the ferrite slab and low insertion loss of the transmission mode. Any change in the position of the ferrite slab changes the propagation constant of the mode traveling across the ferrite-coupled HMSIW, which, consequently, results in different center frequencies of the isolation. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed design is one of the first tunable isolators for such a high frequency. Despite previously reported isolators that require a strong magnetic bias field for mm-Wave range applications, the proposed isolator requires a relatively low magnetic bias (less than 20 KA/m), which is provided by a small and lightweight permanent magnet. The 10 dB isolation bandwidth of the design is about 2 GHz varying from 34 to 37 GHz based on the position of the ferrite slab. The insertion loss of the device is measured between 2 and 3 dB.