A gap waveguide-based mechanically reconfigurable phase shifter for high-power Ku-band applications.

This paper presents a novel design of a low-loss, reconfigurable broadband phase shifter based on groove gap waveguide (GGW) technology. The proposed phase shifter consists of a folded GGW and three bends with a few pins forming the GGW and one bend attached to a movable plate. This movable plate allows for adjustments to the folded waveguide length, consequently altering the phase of electromagnetic waves. The advantage of GGW technology is that it does not require electrical contact between different parts of a structure. Therefore, it enables the moving parts to slide freely without electromagnetic energy leakage, resulting in improved insertion loss in high-power applications. In addition, in the proposed design, the position of the input and output waveguide ports of the phase shifter remains fixed, which is advantageous from a practical point of view. As shown by measurement and simulation results, there is nearly 37% impedance bandwidth with the highest insertion loss of 0.6 dB, and the developed device has a maximum phase shift of 770° at the center frequency of 13 GHz. The phase shifter can be used for various radar and satellite applications that require phase control, such as beamforming networks and phased array antennas.

Design of novel highly sensitive sensors for crack detection in metal surfaces: theoretical foundation and experimental validation.

The application of different types of microwave resonators for sensing cracks in metallic structures has been subject of many studies. While most studies have been focused on improving the sensitivity of planar crack sensors, the theoretical foundation of the topic has not been treated in much detail. The major objective of this study is to perform an exhaustive study of the principles and theoretical foundations for crack sensing based on planar microwave resonators, especially defective ground structures (DGS) including complementary split ring resonators (CSRRs). The analysis is carried out from the equivalent circuit model as well as the electromagnetic (EM) field perspectives, and guidelines for the design of crack sensors with high sensitivity are developed. Numerical and experimental validation of the provided theoretical analysis is another aim of this article. With this aim, the developed guidelines are used to design a crack sensor based on a single-ring CSRR. It is shown that the sensitivity of the proposed sensor is almost three times higher than the sensitivity of a conventional double-ring CSRR. Moreover, it is demonstrated that folded dumbbell-shape DGS resonators can be used to achieve even higher sensitivities. The CSRR-based crack sensors presented in this study and other studies available in the literature are only sensitive to cracks with a specific orientation. To address this limitation, a modified version of the DGS is proposed to sense cracks with arbitrary orientations at the cost of lower sensitivity. The performance of all the presented sensors is validated through EM simulation, equivalent circuit model extraction, and measurement of the fabricated prototypes.

Modulation of dielectric properties in low-loss polypropylene-based composites at GHz frequencies: theory and experiment.

Polymer composites with high dielectric constant and low loss tangent are highly regarded as substrates for modern high-speed electronics. In this work, we analyze the high-frequency dielectric properties of two types of composites based on polypropylene infused with high-dielectric-constant microparticles. Two types of fillers are used: commercial ceramics or titanium oxide (TiO2) with different concentrations. The key observation is that adding the fillers causes an increase of dielectric constants by around 100% (for highest loading) up to 4.2 and 3.4, for micro-ceramics and TiO2 based composites, respectively. Interestingly, for the TiO2 composite, the loss tangent depends on the filler loading volume, whereas the other composite has a slightly increasing tendency, however, being at the level ~ 10-3. To explain the experimental results, a theoretical model determined by microwave reflection and transmission through a representative volume element is proposed, which allows the investigation of the impact of volume ratio, grain shape, aggregation, and size on the loss tangent and permittivity evolution. This approach could be used for modeling other low dielectric loss materials with inclusions.

Novel MNZ-type microwave sensor for testing magnetodielectric materials.

A novel microwave sensor with the mu-near-zero (MNZ) property is proposed for testing magnetodielectric material at 4.5 GHz. The sensor has a double-layer design consisting of a microstrip line and a metal strip with vias on layers 1 and 2, respectively. The proposed sensor can detect a unit change in relative permittivity and relative permeability with a difference in the operating frequency of 45 MHz and 78 MHz, respectively. The MNZ sensor is fabricated and assembled on two layers of Taconic RF-35 substrate, with thicknesses of 0.51 mm and 1.52 mm, respectively, for the measurement of the sample under test using a vector network analyzer. The dielectric and magnetic properties of two standard dielectric materials (Taconic CER-10 and Rogers TMM13i) and of yttrium-gadolinium iron garnet are measured at microwave frequencies. The results are found to be in good agreement with the values available in the literature, which shows the applicability of the prototype for sensing of magnetodielectric materials.

High Q-factor microwave Fabry-Perot resonator with distributed Bragg reflectors.

A Fabry-Perot resonator operating at 39 GHz, with two pairs of quarter-wavelength single-crystal quartz Bragg reflectors has been realized. For the length of 98.26 mm, its Q-factor is about 560,000, which is 4.3 times better than for the same resonator without Bragg reflectors. Rigorous finite-difference frequency-domain analysis has been applied to the problem and is compared with simplified semi-analytical solutions. Good agreement between theoretical and experimental resonant frequency and Q-factors has been obtained. Thermal compensation of the resonant frequency of the Fabry-Perot has been proposed employing rods and cylinders made of metals with different thermal expansion coefficients.