A double-layer wideband radial-line waveguide power divider/combiner for high-power microwave application

A compact double-layer wideband 1:60 power divider/combiner based on a radial-line waveguide is designed and investigated for high-power microwave (HPM) applications. Compared with other HPM radial-line power dividers, the proposed power divider is smaller and more compact. The power divider is miniaturized by the double-layer method, and the wideband characteristic is realized by a specially designed wavy disk. Moreover, it can divide the microwave energy into 60 output ports equally by symmetrical design. As for simulation, in the range of 1.64-3.6 GHz, the voltage standing-wave ratio is below 2 (the relative bandwidth is 76%) and the return loss reaches -44 dB at 2.1 GHz. Additionally, a prototype is fabricated and the wideband performance from 1.6 to 2.6 GHz is verified by an existing wideband antenna array. Furthermore, filled with SF₆ (0.3 MPa), the theoretical power handling capacity is more than 200 MW and the device works steadily in HPM tests under the condition of 140 MW. To sum up, the compact power divider/combiner has important application potentials in HPM fields.