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Double-Ridged Waveguide Orthomode Transducer (OMT) for the 67–116-GHz Band

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Abstract

A high-performance low-loss high-reflection-loss compact double-ridged waveguide orthomode transducer (OMT) for the 67–116 GHz band has been designed, fabricated, and tested. The focus in the design has been to achieve the best possible performance while keeping the design compact and fabrication as simple as possible. The designed OMT is based on a double-ridged waveguide Boifot junction followed by a main arm with an E-plane bend, and two side arms which are combined into a Y-junction. Wideband performance has been achieved by careful control of the waveguide width at the waveguide junction, and by the use of a variable width septum. The design is very compact and can be fabricated by conventional computer numerical control (CNC) milling techniques in two split blocks. The output waveguides are standard WR-10 rectangular waveguides. Prototype OMTs have been fabricated and tested with good agreement with simulations. The measured insertion loss is around 0.15 dB, the reflection loss is better than 23 dB, and isolation and cross-polarization are lower than – 45 dB at all frequencies. This OMT is intended to be used in cryogenic low-noise receivers for radio astronomy. To the extent of our knowledge, this is the best reported performance for an OMT over a 55% fractional bandwidth at W-band frequencies.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the rest of the team members of the Receiver Development team at NAOJ/Advanced Technology Center and Chile Observatory, especially to K. Kaneko for preparing the fabrication drawings of the prototype components. We are also grateful to the rest of the members of the ALMA band 2+3 consortium, led by Dr. P. Yagoubov at ESO for fruitful discussion and collaboration. Finally, we would like to thank Dr. Y. Hasegawa and Prof. H. Ogawa at Osaka Prefecture University for useful discussion and collaboration in OMT designs.

Funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 15H02074.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan

    Alvaro Gonzalez & Shin’ichiro Asayama

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  1. Alvaro Gonzalez
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  2. Shin’ichiro Asayama
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Correspondence to Alvaro Gonzalez.

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Gonzalez, A., Asayama, S. Double-Ridged Waveguide Orthomode Transducer (OMT) for the 67–116-GHz Band. J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves 39, 723–737 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10762-018-0503-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10762-018-0503-5

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