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Octave Bandwidth Orthomode Transducers for the Expanded Very Large Array
Gordon M. Coutts, Member, IEEE
AbstractQuadruple-ridge orthomode transducers (OMTs) have been designed to operate over a full octave bandwidth for the expanded very large array (EVLA) project. The OMT separates linearly polarized signal components by matching a circular waveguide input to two orthogonal coaxial outputs. The OMT is used in conjunction with a quadrature hybrid to detect circularly polarized signal components. This paper focuses on the 1 GHz2 GHz L-Band OMT design, which has better than 18.8 dB measured return loss across the band, with no evidence of trapped-mode resonances. The OMT is designed with an emphasis on performance, ease of tuning and manufacturability since a large number of units are needed for the array application. Extensive parametric analyses were carried out, and nominal dimensions have been set to ensure the devices exceed RF specications provided the parts are machined to within specied tolerances. With excellent wideband performance and a simplied manufacturing process, the proposed OMT would be amenable to much larger future array projects. Index TermsOrthomode transducers (OMTs), radio astronomy, reector antenna feeds, ridge waveguides.

I. INTRODUCTION HE very large array (VLA) of 27 radio telescopes, located on the Plains of San Agustin, New Mexico, USA, was originally constructed over several years, and completed in 1980 [1]. The expanded very large array (EVLA) project is a signicant upgrade to modernize the electronics of the existing 27 radio telescopes to greatly improve sensitivity, spectral resolution and frequency bandwidth [2]. Eight new cryogenically cooled EVLA receivers provide continuous frequency coverage from 1 GHz to 50 GHz for each antenna. Three of the new receivers cover the 1 GHz to 8 GHz frequency range, which is subdivided into L-band (1 GHz to 2 GHz), S-Band (2 GHz to 4 GHz), and C-band (4 GHz to 8 GHz). The three aforementioned low frequency receivers require polarizers that operate over a full octave bandwidth to detect circularly polarized signals. The octave bandwidth circular polarizers consist of a quadruple-ridge orthomode transducer (OMT) followed by a quadrature hybrid [2], [3]. The OMT rst separates the orthogonal linearly polarized signal components. The quadrature hybrid then adds the orthogonal linearly polarized

Manuscript received November 25, 2009; revised March 30, 2010; accepted April 28, 2010. Date of publication March 03, 2011; date of current version June 02, 2011. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. The author is with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, NM 87801 USA (e-mail: gcoutts@nrao.edu). Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TAP.2011.2122220

components together with the appropriate phase shift to detect circularly polarized astronomical signals [2], [3]. Numerous wideband OMT designs have been previously reported, which focus on improving manufacturability and reducing size. Coupled waveguide based designs operate over a complete waveguide band, and perform well in terms of insertion loss and cross-polarized isolation [4][6]. The Bifot OMT [6] is designed for ease of machining by using a split-block design that can be bolted together. In [7], the Bifot OMT has been modied by replacing the septum and inductive posts of the design in [6] with a double-ridged waveguide junction to simplify manufacturing of a physically small device that operates in the 2 mm band. A double-ridge OMT with orthogonal double-ridge sections separated along the propagation direction has been reported in [8], which performs well from 16 GHz to 26 GHz. Quadruple-ridge OMT designs have been reported which have the advantage of wider single-mode bandwidth compared to OMT designs based on square and circular waveguides [9][12]. The wideband quadruple-ridge OMT of [9] has a wider bandwidth than the OMTs of [4][8], however the cross-polarized isolation performance is limited. The quadruple-ridge OMT of [10] does not meet the EVLA 15 dB return loss specication over an octave bandwidth, and has evidence of in-band trapped-mode resonances. A quadruple-ridged horn has been reported in [11] which has broadband performance, but would not meet the EVLA return loss specication. In [12], trapped mode resonances are mitigated by offsetting the ridge tapers along the propagation direction, and device performs well from 2.4 GHz to 4 GHz. The EVLA L-Band OMT offers full octave bandwidth performance with 18.8 dB or better return loss and 35.7 dB or better cross-polarized isolation across the 1 GHz2 GHz bandwidth, while suppressing potentially occurring in-band trapped-mode resonances. The insertion loss and return loss are well matched between the two orthogonal polarizations. Consequently, the EVLA L-Band OMT has a close amplitude match that minimizes errors when adding the phase-shifted orthogonal signals together for circular polarization detection. The EVLA S-Band OMT was reported in [3], which was designed with an emphasis on manufacturability since the project requires 30 units (one for each of the 27 antennas and 3 spares). Ease of manufacture, however, is limited due to a number of small components that must be assembled in a complex process. The new L-Band OMT has been designed to greatly simplify the assembly procedure over previous designs. Although it is important to focus on manufacturability when designing components for the 27-element EVLA, the new L-band OMT would be amenable to much larger future array projects.

U.S. Government work not protected by U.S. copyright.

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frequencies, higher-order modes and trapped-mode resonances are suppressed over the entire octave bandwidth. The OMT structure may be subdivided into three sections as shown in Fig. 1. The rst OMT section is the circular-to-square transition that connects to the circular waveguide at the receiver input. Next is the square to quadruple-ridge tapered transition, followed by the coaxial to quadruple-ridge waveguide transition. The total OMT length is 26.4 inches. A square OMT cross-section was chosen since the square structure is easier to fabricate. Four outer shell sections and four ridges may be fabricated separately and bolted together. The square waveguide cross-sectional dimension adjacent to the cir/TE cular-to-square transition is 6.5 on each side. The mode cutoff frequency is therefore 908 MHz, whereas the 7.5 diameter circular waveguide that connects to the antenna feed horn has a 923 MHz cutoff frequency. The circular to square transition is a 2.4 long section of rounded square waveguide. A. Octave-Band Impedance Match The wide OMT bandwidth presents an interesting challenge: to design a device that is well matched in terms of impedance, while at the same time suppresses higher order modes. The 908 MHz square waveguide cutoff frequency is close to the 1 GHz lower band edge to minimize the number of in-band higher order modes that may propagate. As a result of operating close to cutoff, the square waveguide impedance varies between 1113 ohms at 1 GHz and 524 ohms at 2 GHz, and must simultaneously be matched to the 50 ohm coaxial outputs. For impedance matching purposes, the square waveguide near the OMT input transitions to a chamfered quadruple-ridge waveguide along a smooth taper as shown in Fig. 1(a),(b). The quadruple-ridge waveguide dimensions at the coaxial transition, shown in Fig. 2, consist of a 45 degree ridge chamfer, having a width varying between 500 mil and 156 mil. The gap between opposing ridges is 240 mil. The chamfered prole enables the gaps between the four ridges to be sufciently small to have waveguide impedance values close to 50 ohms for the dominant and modes. The overall 500 mil ridge width was chosen to provide a sufcient overlapping chamfer area to obtain a quadruple-ridge waveguide impedance close to 50 ohms, while maintaining a relatively large ridge gap compared to the manufacturing tolerances. This enables fabrication of an OMT that can be bolted together without the need to adjust the ridge gap during the tuning procedure. At 1 GHz and 2 GHz, the quadruple-ridge waveguide impedance is 59.6 ohms and 51.4 ohms, respectively, for the dominant modes. The percentage impedance variation across the band is signicantly reduced in comparison to the square waveguide since the quadruple-ridge waveguide operates farther from cutoff. The coaxial to quadruple-ridge waveguide transition is shown in Fig. 1(c), where orthogonally positioned coaxial probes oriand modes ented along the y and x axes excite the mode has x-oriented electric elds as respectively. The shown in Fig. 2(a), whereas the mode has y-oriented electric elds as shown in Fig. 2(b). Each pair of opposing ridges is connected together with a series of 4 shorting blocks, as shown in Fig. 1(c). The blocks are 156 mil wide and 160 mil long

Fig. 1. HFSS [13] model of the L-Band quadruple-ridge OMT. (a) L-Band OMT model (shaded regions are vacuum), (b) L-Band OMT side view (shaded regions are vacuum), (c) Coax to quadruple-ridge waveguide model with transparent ridge to illustrate shorting block structure and coaxial feeds. The center conductor and dielectric of each coaxial feed extends across the ridge gap and into a hole in the opposing ridge. (shaded regions are solid).

The L-Band OMT electromagnetic design, with its simplied manufacturing process and octave bandwidth operation while suppressing trapped-mode resonances, is outlined in Section II. Section III discusses the manufacturability of the new OMT design, including parametric analyses of critical parameters. Experimental L-Band OMT results are presented in Section IV alongside simulated results. II. OMT DESIGN This section provides a detailed description of the L-band OMT design, which is based on the concept of the quadrupleridge S-Band OMT of [3]. The new OMT is designed to operate from 1 GHz to 2 GHz, with a novel transition from quadrupleridge waveguide to coaxial transmission lines that has improved manufacturability compared to previous designs. The octave-bandwidth EVLA OMT designs are subject to stringent specications. The devices must match a circular waveguide input, which connects to the antenna feed, to two orthogonal 50 ohm coaxial outputs with a return loss better than 15 dB. To prevent a loss of receiver sensitivity at some

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Fig. 2. Quadruple-ridge waveguide cross-sectional view, in the OMT coaxial transition region, showing the electric elds for (a) the TE mode, (b) the TE mode, and (c) the TE mode. Opposing ridges are connected together by shorting blocks, whereas the light and dark ridge pairs are RF isolated.

Fig. 4. HFSS simulated reection response of the coax to quadruple-ridge waveguide transition, square to quadruple-ridge waveguide taper, and the entire OMT response.

TABLE I SQUARE TO QUADRUPLE-RIDGE TAPER

Fig. 3. HFSS simulated quadruple-ridge TE sion past a single shorting block.

mode cross-polarized transmis-

(in the direction of propagation). The orthogonal blocks are spaced 250 mil apart. The x-oriented blocks short-circuit the mode electric eld lines as can be seen in x-oriented Fig. 1(c). Similarly, the y-oriented blocks reect the y-oriented mode wave. The offset positions of the x and y oriented shorting blocks provide impedance matching to the offset orthogonal coaxial feeds. There is a 1.859 distance between each coaxial feed and closest co-polarized shorting block. mode, the signal must rst propagate past one For the orthogonal x-oriented block before being reected by the co-polarized y-oriented block. Ansoft high-frequency structure simulator (HFSS) [13] simulations were rst carried out to ensure mode signal was not signicantly attenuated. As that the mode signal can be seen in Fig. 3, the attenuation of a past an orthogonally oriented shorting block is 0.0052 dB or better across the band, or better than 0.0104 dB for a reected signal that is attenuated twice by the block. This small attenuation value will not signicantly affect the OMT performance. The center conductor and dielectric of each coaxial feed extends across the gap and into a hole in the opposing ridge, acting as an open-circuited transmission line matching stub. The coaxial to quadruple-ridge waveguide transition, shown in Fig. 1(c), has a simulated response with two resonances as shown in Fig. 4. At the higher frequency resonance in the response of Fig. 4, the 0.9 open-circuited stub is close to one quarter wavelength, and the feed couples magnetically to the

waveguide. The lower frequency resonance is due primarily to electric eld coupling from the coax feed to the waveguide. The square waveguide to quadruple-ridge taper prole is designed to provide a smooth impedance transition from the square waveguide near the OMT input to the chamfered quadruple-ridge waveguide at the coaxial transition. Fig. 4 shows the simulated taper performance, which has a response. The position of the rst null of the taper response (which occurs at 983 MHz as shown in Fig. 4) is determined by the overall taper length, and is critical to optimizing the low-frequency OMT performance. Table I lists the square waveguide to quadruple-ridge waveguide taper prole dimensions, with position zero at the beginning of the OMT square waveguide section. In addition to adjusting the overall taper length, the low frequency OMT performance is further enhanced by setting the relative position of the abrupt circular to square transition (shown in Fig. 1(a),(b)). The distance between the circular to square transition and the beginning of the quadruple-ridge waveguide taper was found to be 1.18 through optimization using HFSS. Fig. 5 shows the improvement in OMT performance at the lower band edge when adding the abrupt circular to square transition at the input. Combining the three aforementioned OMT components into a single HFSS model yields the overall simulated performance, from the circular waveguide input to the coaxial output, shown

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Fig. 5. Simulated OMT coaxial probe reection response with the OMT terminated in a square waveguide, and the OMT simulated response after adding the abrupt circular-to-square transition, with the OMT terminated in a circular waveguide. The front probe and back probe refer, respectively, to the x-oriented and y-oriented coaxial feeds as shown in Fig. 1(c).

Fig. 6. HFSS Simulated quadruple-ridge TE ries of 8 offset shorting blocks.

mode transmission past the se-

in Fig. 4. The simulated response meets the return loss specication by a wide margin. B. Suppression of Trapped-Mode Resonances The possibility of higher order modes propagating at some point along the OMT is unavoidable due to the wide bandwidth. As previously discussed, the fundamental orthogonal modes are the and modes, with electric eld patterns shown, respectively, in Figs. 2(b) and (a). The next two higher order and modes in quadruple-ridge waveguide are the modes [14][16]. mode exciA scheme for mitigating issues related to tation is implemented in the coax to waveguide transition. As shown in Figs. 1(c) and 2, offset shorting blocks connect opposing ridges together as previously discussed. The function of these blocks is twofold. In addition to providing an offset short to the orthogonal coaxial feeds, the overlapping geometry of the blocks maintains RF isolation between the x-oriented and y-orimode ented ridge pairs. As can be seen in Fig. 2(c), the may propagate past the shorting blocks since the two ridge pairs are at different potentials even though each pair of opposing ridges is shorted together. As long as the ridge pairs are isomode will propagate past the blocks due to the lated, the electric eld symmetry shown in Fig. 2(c). The interleaved arrangement of small blocks, as shown in Fig. 1(c), was chosen to minimize the difference in electrical length between the two orthogonal signals. The phase difference between orthogonal signals is therefore small (of the order of 10 degrees at mid-band). To detect circularly polarized signals, coaxial cables that connect the OMT to an external quadrature hybrid must be manually trimmed to compensate for this phase difference. A small phase difference minimizes the amplitude mismatch since the coaxial cable length difference for each orthogonal signal is small. The phase-matched coaxial cables typically have a length difference of less than 4 mm. As shown in Fig. 1(c), absorbing material is placed next to the shorting blocks, on the opposite side from the coaxial feeds. The absorbing material is isolated from the desired fundamental and modes since the shorting blocks reect the waves. The higher order mode, however, will propagate

Fig. 7. HFSS simulated quadruple-ridge TE /TE mode isolation through the shorting blocks, for a single block and for a series of four blocks, aligned in the same direction as the fundamental mode electric eld lines.

past the blocks and through to the absorber as shown in Fig. 1(c). This is used to suppress trapped-mode resonances that would propagation. Fig. 6 shows otherwise occur due to in-band mode signal propthe HFSS simulated transmission for a agating past the series of 8 blocks as shown in Fig. 1(c). The insertion loss is better than 0.029 dB, conrming that the mode signal will propagate through to the absorber. Fig. 7 shows the HFSS simulated isolation through a set of shorting blocks that are oriented along the same direction as the electric eld lines. For a single block, the fundamental mode isolation varies between 17.7 dB at 1 GHz and 10.5 dB at 2 GHz, averaging 13.5 dB across the band. A single block would thus be insufcient to adequately isolate the absorber from the desired fundamental mode signal. Consequently, a series of 4 blocks is used for each polarization. As shown in Fig. 7, the isolation for a series of 4 blocks varies between 51.6 dB at 1 GHz and 42.3 dB at 2 GHz, averaging 46.5 dB across the band. The simulated plots of Fig. 8 illustrate the effectiveness of trapped-mode resothe absorbing material in suppressing nances. When the OMT is simulated with no absorbing material behind the offset shorting blocks, two sharp resonances appear at 1.12 GHz and 1.27 GHz in the isolation response between the two coaxial ports, as shown in Fig. 8. When the same OMT structure is simulated with the absorber in place, Fig. 8 shows

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Fig. 8. HFSS simulated isolation between OMT coaxial ports with and without the absorbing material.

mode does not have a eld symmetry that may The be used for trapped-mode resonance suppression [14][16]. Consequently, it is not only necessary to design the tapered square waveguide to quadruple-ridge waveguide transition for mode impedance matching, but also to ensure that the does not propagate anywhere along the OMT at any in-band frequency. mode cutoff frequency, as shown in Fig. 9, is The highest at the coaxial to quadruple-ridge transition region. This highest cutoff frequency is 4.73 GHz, which is signicantly mode cutoff frehigher than the upper band edge. The quency, however, tends to decrease as both the ridge gap and the mode outer waveguide dimension increase. The lowest cutoff frequency of 2.03 GHz occurs along the tapered transition where the ridge gap is 3.45 , with a 6.43 outer waveguide dimension. For the frequency range between 1.27 GHz and 2.03 GHz, the OMT does not have any possible trapped-mode resotrapped-mode nances. As can be seen in Fig. 14, the rst resonance occurs at 2.094 GHz according to HFSS simulations and 2.093 GHz according to measured results. III. DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURABILITY The EVLA L-Band OMT design builds on the concepts of the S-Band OMT reported in [3], which was designed with an emphasis on manufacturability. The design of [3], however, has a more complex offset shorting structure compared to the offset blocks of the new L-Band design. The OMT of [3] requires the installation of fourteen beryllium-copper offset shorting pins, held in place by fty-six set screws. There is one set screw on either side of each pin, as well as an additional pair of set screws for each pin to lock the rst pair in place. The assembly, positioning of the beryllium-copper shorting pins and set-screw tightening adds signicant time to the assembly process. Furthermore, there is a risk of misaligning the pins as well as insufciently tightening the set screws. These assembly errors may not be detectable in room-temperature RF measurements. When the dissimilar metals are cryogenically cooled, however, the aforementioned assembly errors appear as degradation in receiver mode noise temperature due to some of the desired signals propagating through to the absorber as a result of poor contact between the shorting pins and ridges. It would require several days to warm the receiver, remove the OMT for rework, re-assemble and re-cool the receiver. The offset shorting blocks of the L-band OMT, shown in Fig. 10 avoid the assembly errors associated with using shorting pins. The four ridges are machined separately. Four shorting blocks are integrated into two of the ridges, and the structure simply bolts together, held in place by a precision locator block as shown in Fig. 10. The locator block sets the spacing and maintains symmetry, which is essential for high isolation between orthogonal modes. The outer walls of the waveguide consist of four outer shell sections, that are machined in two pieces each, which bolt together. Once the four-ridge assembly has been bolted together as shown in Fig. 11(a), the outer shell sections are added to complete the structure as shown in Fig. 11(b),(c). Since the OMT bolts together as a xed structure, the only degree of freedom for tuning is to set the length of the open-circuited coaxial feed. Parametric analyses were carried out to de-

Fig. 9. Simulated modal analysis along the L-Band OMT transition showing attenuation constant (nepers per meter) vs. frequency. Each curve represents a quadruple ridge waveguide of constant cross-section corresponding to varying dimensions along the OMT transition. The solid black line and light dashed lines are TE mode attenuation constants along the OMT transition. The dashed mode attenuation constants black line and dotted light lines represent the TE along the OMT transition.

that the trapped-mode resonances disappear, providing further conrmation of TE mode suppression. Since no closed-form solution exists for analyzing the quadruple-ridge waveguide modes, a modal analysis along the L-band OMT tapered transition was carried out using Ansoft HFSS. The plots of Fig. 9 show the attenuation constant vs. freand modes along the quency for the higher order tapered transition. The frequency at which the attenuation constant drops to zero corresponds to the modal cutoff frequency. mode cutoff frequency occurs at 572 MHz, in The lowest the coaxial to quadruple-ridge transition region, with a 240 mil ridge gap and 3 outer waveguide dimension. As the ridge gap increases, the mode cutoff frequency tends to increase as shown in Fig. 9. It is important to note that the highest mode cutoff frequency along the transition occurs at the square waveguide end, having a 1.27 GHz value. At frequencies trapped-mode resonances between 1 GHz and 1.27 GHz, are possible since this mode is at or below cutoff somewhere along the transition, and will be reected back towards the shorting blocks. The aforementioned OMT resonances, shown in Fig. 8, fall within the range of possible trapped-mode resmode is below cutoff at onance frequencies since the some point along the OMT. As previously described, the offset shorting blocks and absorbing material effectively eliminate trapped-mode resonances. the

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Fig. 10. Photograph of the partially assembled L-Band OMT, with one ridge removed, to show the orthogonal coaxial feed holes (left) offset orthogonal shorting blocks (center to right) and precision locator block and absorbing material (right).

Fig. 12. HFSS simulated tuned OMT response with varying position of the coaxial feed relative to the shorting blocks. The nominal position is 1.859 between the coaxial feed and shorting block.

Fig. 11. Fabricated L-Band OMT assembly. (a) Four ridges bolted to the precision locator block. (b) Partly assembled OMT. (c) Fully assembled OMT.

Fig. 13. HFSS simulated tuned OMT front probe response with ridge gaps varying between 224 mil and 256 mil. These plots show the maximum range of gap values over which the L-band OMT can be tuned. The nominal 240 mil value is chosen at the center of this range.

termine the critical dimensions and set nominal values accordingly, to ensure that the fabricated devices meet RF performance specications provided parts are manufactured to within specied tolerances. The most critical dimensions of the OMT are in the coax to quadruple-ridge waveguide transition, which has the smallest dimensions of the structure. The simulated plots of Fig. 12 show the effect of changing the relative distance from the shorting mil from the nominal value. blocks to the coaxial feed by The traces of Fig. 12 show that the most signicant changes occur at the upper and lower band edges, but the reection at the dB at 1 GHz and 2 GHz. The coaxial feed is still better than worst-case reection value degrades by 0.3 dB at the mid-band, dB with a coax feed position of mil from the to nominal value. Since the manufacturing tolerance is only mil for the relative feed position, the effect of this variation on OMT performance is minimal. The simulated tuned OMT reection plots of Fig. 13 show the effect of varying the ridge gap between 224 mil and 256 mil, in 4 mil increments. The Fig. 13 plots show the maximum range over which the L-Band OMT can be tuned. The worst-case redB at 1.53 GHz for a 224 mil ridge gap, and ection is dB at 2.0 GHz for a 256 mil ridge gap. The mid-range 240 mil gap is chosen to be the nominal value. The expected gap mil. variation, based on manufacturing tolerances, is only The OMT meets the impedance match specication by a wide

margin with the nominal dimensions. Fabricated devices thus have a high probability of meeting specications provided parts are machined to within specied tolerances. Furthermore, this OMT design has a sufcient RF performance margin to improve the possibly of meeting specications in the event of minor manufacturing errors. IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS The L-Band OMT was measured using an Agilent E8364B PNA Series network analyzer. The waveguide OMT port was terminated in a sliding load. The measurements shown in Figs. 1416 show the performance of a fabricated OMT based on initial assembly. The only required tuning was to set the length of the open-circuited coaxial feeds. The L-Band OMT can be tuned in less than one hour for both polarizations. The plot of Fig. 14 shows the HFSS simulated and measured L-Band OMT reection at the two orthogonal coaxial ports. The dB (at 2 GHz) or better measured OMT reection is across the entire octave bandwidth, whereas the simulated redB (at 1.2 GHz) or better across the band. The sponse is dB reecmeasured L-Band OMT response exceeds our tion specication by a wide margin. The plots of Fig. 14 also show the OMT performance beyond the band edges. As previously discussed, low-frequency performance is limited by waveguide cutoff, and high-frequency performance is limited by the trapped-mode resonances. The simulated OMT perfordB reection specication from 962.5 mance meets the

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band, averaging 42.5 dB from 1 GHz2 GHz. Moreover, there is no evidence of trapped-mode resonances in the isolation plot of Fig. 16, or the reection and transmission plots of Figs. 14 and 15, respectively. As predicted from simulated data, the fabricated L-Band OMT exhibits good performance in terms of bandwidth, return loss, transmission, isolation and trapped-mode resonance suppression, exceeding specications by a wide margin. V. CONCLUSION
Fig. 14. HFSS Simulated and Measured L-Band OMT reection.

Fig. 15. HFSS Simulated and Measured L-Band OMT transmission.

A new octave-bandwidth OMT has been designed for the EVLA 1 GHz2 GHz L-Band receiver. Hardware has been fabricated and tested, and exceeds specications by a wide margin in terms of return loss performance and trapped mode resonance suppression. The new OMT design focuses on manufacturability, and is signicantly easier to assemble than previous designs. The individually machined parts simply bolt together, and the only required tuning is to adjust the open-circuited coaxial feed length for each polarization. Tuning takes less than one hour for both polarizations. Extensive parametric analyses were carried out, and nominal dimensions have been set to ensure the devices exceed the RF specications provided the parts are machined to within specied tolerances. With its excellent wideband performance and simplied manufacturing process, the proposed OMT would be amenable to much larger future array projects. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The author would like to thank H. Dinwiddie for his work on the mechanical implementation of the design and P. Madigan for machining the rst prototypes. REFERENCES
[1] P. J. Napier, A. R. Thompson, and R. D. Ekers, The very large array: Design and performance of a modern synthesis radio telescope, Proc. IEEE, vol. 71, no. 11, pp. 12951320, Nov. 1983. [2] The EVLA Expansion Project: Construction Project Book, M. McKinnon and R. Perley, Eds. Socorro, NM: National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 2001. [3] G. M. Coutts, H. Dinwiddie, and P. Lilie, S-band octave-bandwidth orthomode transducer for the expanded very large array, presented at the IEEE APS Int. Symp., Charleston, SC, 2009. [4] J. Uher, J. Bornemann, and U. Rosenberg, Waveguide Components for Antenna Feed Systems: Theory and CAD. Norwood, MA: Artech House, 1993. [5] Y. Aramaki, N. Yoneda, M. Miyazaki, and T. Horie, Ultra-thin broadband OMT with turnstile junction, in IEEE MTT-S Int. Microw. Symp. Dig., 1993, pp. 4750. [6] A. M. Bifot, E. Lier, and T. Schaug-Pettersen, Simple and broadband orthomode transducer, in Proc. Inst. Elect. Eng., 1990, pp. 396400. [7] S. Asayama and M. Kamikura, Development of double-ridged wavegide orthomode transducer for the 2 MM band, J. Infrared Milli. Terahz. Waves, vol. 30, pp. 573579, 2009. [8] A. Dunning, Double ridged orthogonal mode transducer for the 1626 GHz microwave band, presented at the Workshop Appl. Radio Sci., Leura, Australia, 2002. [9] S. J. Skinner and G. L. James, Wide-band orthomode transducers, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 294300, Feb. 1991. [10] J. L. Yu, C. J. Jin, Y. Cao, and H. S. Chen, Broad-band orthomode transducers, in Proc. Int. Conf. Microw. Millim. Wave Technol., 2008, pp. 320322. [11] Z. Shen and C. Feng, A new dual-polarized broad-band horn antenna, IEEE Ant. Wirel. Propag. Lett., vol. 4, pp. 270273, Aug. 2005.

Fig. 16. HFSS Simulated and Measured L-Band OMT isolation.

MHz to 2.075 GHz. The measured OMT performance meets specications from 982.5 MHz to 2.048 GHz. The plot of Fig. 15 shows the HFSS simulated and measured OMT insertion loss at room temperature. The measured insertion loss results are averaged from two OMT units connected back-to back. As expected, the measured insertion loss is higher than the ideal simulated values. The maximum simulated insertion loss of 0.093 dB occurs at 1 GHz, and the measured value is 0.20 dB (at 1.47 GHz) or better across the entire octave band. The average measured room-temperature insertion loss, as shown in Fig. 15, is 0.12 dB for both polarizations, across the 1 GHz2 GHz band. Fig. 16 shows the HFSS simulated and measured OMT isolation between the orthogonal coaxial ports. The simulated isolation is 48.8 dB at 2 GHz or better, whereas the measured isolation is 35.7 dB at 1 GHz, or better across the entire

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[12] D. I. L. de Villiers, P. Meyer, and K. D. Palmer, Broadband offset quad-ridged waveguide orthomode transducer, Electron. Lett., vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 6062, Jan. 2009. [13] Ansoft LLC, Pittsburgh, PA, HFSS, 2009. [Online]. Available: http:// www.ansoft.com/products/hf/hfss/ [14] M. H. Chen and G. N. Tsandoulas, Bandwidth properties of quadruple-ridged circular and square waveguide radiators, in Proc. Ant. Propag. Soc. Int. Symp., 1973, pp. 391394. [15] M. H. Chen, G. N. Tsandoulas, and F. G. Willwerth, Modal characteristics of quadruple-ridged circular and square waveguides, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 22, no. 8, pp. 801804, Aug. 1974. [16] W. Sun and C. A. Balanis, Analysis and design of quadruple-ridged waveguides, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 42, no. 12, pp. 22012207, Dec. 1994.

Gordon M. Coutts (S93M99) was born in Ottawa, ON, Canada. He received the B.A.Sc. and M.A.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering (with a specialization in frequency-steerable antenna arrays and RF MEMS on exible substrates) from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, in 1998, 1999, and 2007, respectively. His masters research concentrated on nonlinear propagation characteristics of high-temperature superconducting planar transmission lines and applications. For four years he was with Agilent Technologies, Rohnert Park, CA, and Penang, Malaysia. In 2003, he joined the Centre for Integrated RF Engineering, University of Waterloo. In August 2007, he joined the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, NM, where he is currently an Associate Scientist/Research Engineer involved with the upgrade of cryogenic receiver front-ends for the next-generation expanded very large array (EVLA).