《Analysis of a multiple-beam waveguide for free-space transmission of microwaves》.pdf

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 49, NO. 3, MARCH 2001 483 Analysis of a Multiple-Beam Waveguide for Free-Space Transmission of Microwaves Lars Empacher and Walter Kasparek Abstract— The transmission of several quasi-optical beams via one system of oversized focusing mirrors is discussed. The anal- ysis of this multiple-beam waveguide shows that such a system can substantially reduce the total mirror surface compared to the cor- responding number of individual lines. With the help of analytic coupling coefficients for Gaussian beam modes deduced from the coupling integrals, configurations of four mirrors are found, which give low losses due to the reconversion of spurious modes gener- ated at the different mirrors. Optimization of the mirror surfaces as a function of system parameters is performed and expressions for the loss as function of the number of transmission channels are deduced. The results are confirmed by diffraction calculations and laboratory scale experiments. The application to a high-power system promises a very efficient transmission with high mode pu- rity. Fig. 1. Left: sketch of beam transmission via individual beam waveguides. Index Terms—Beam waveguides, coupled mode analysis, Right: principle of a multiple-beam waveguide. Several beams are transmitted simultaneously by one set of mirrors. microwave power transmission, millimeter wave imaging, multi beam transmission, phase distortion, physical optics, plasma heating. This means that a set of Gaussian beams