4108 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 64, NO.
12, DECEMBER 2016
Design and Microwave Measurement of a Novel
Compact TE0n /TE1n  -Mode Converter
Guo Liu, Yan Wang, Youlei Pu, and Yong Luo
(C)
Abstract— A novel method to generate a TE0n (n = 1, 2, 3)
(C)
(C is circular for short) or TE1n (n = 2, 3, 4) mode via a
(R)
TEm0 (m = 2n or m = 2n − 1) (R is rectangular for short)
mode generator is proposed in this paper. Two main components,
(R) (R)
including a TE10 –TEm0 mode converter with multiple coupling
(R) (C)
apertures and matching steps and a TEm0 –TE0n or TE1n
mode converter, were, respectively, demonstrated. Two novel
(C)
compact mode converters, respectively, exciting the TE01 and
(C)
TE13 modes at Q- and W -band based on the aforementioned
(C)
methodology were designed and analyzed. In the TE01 mode
converter design, symmetric cylindrical ridges were introduced to
(C)
improve the mode purity and suppress the unwanted TE21 mode
by cutting off its surface current on the metal wall. Such a mode
converter operating at Q-band was manufactured and vector
network analyzer measurements showed excellent S-parameter
performance (port reflection <−12 dB) and mode purity (>90%),
which agreed very well with our simulation. Besides, as an
(C)
expansion of the TE01 mode converter, the designed results
(C)
of a high-order TE13 mode converter excited by a similar
methodology were also presented.
Index Terms— Cylindrical ridges (CRs), gyrotron
traveling wave tube (gyro-TWT), microwave measurement, mode
converter.
I. I NTRODUCTION
G YROTRON traveling wave tubes (gyro-TWTs) have
been proved to be high-power, high-efficient, and broad-
band operating microwave and millimeter sources. In a gyro-
TWT design, different beam–wave interaction configurations
such as a dielectric-loaded (DL) circuit [1]–[7], helically cor-
rugated waveguide (HCW) [8], [9], confocal waveguide [10],
and photonic band gap [11] have been explored. Usually, it is
very important to know the properties of the interaction circuits
or to excite a desired electromagnetic mode to complete the
beam–wave interaction. Therefore, a necessary component to
generate a waveguide mode, which is desired or undesired in
our investigation and experiment, has to be designed. A mode
generator is usually used to excite the modes depending on
Manuscript received November 10, 2015; revised February 1, 2016,
July 10, 2016, July 14, 2016, and August 15, 2016; accepted
August 17, 2016. Date of publication September 29, 2016; date of current
version December 7, 2016.
The authors are with the School of Physical Electronics, University
of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China
(e-mail: liuguo@uestc.edu.cn).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMTT.2016.2608770
0018-9480 © 2016 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
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the designed gyro-TWTs. General requirements for such con-
verters have to guarantee a high mode conversion efficiency,
a wide bandwidth, and short conversion length [12], [13].
Except the aforementioned applications in gyro-devices [14],
the converters also can be widely used in high-power
(C) microwave transmission lines [15], radar rotary joints [16],
RF multimode systems [17], [18], microwave/plasma [19], and
antennas systems [20].
In the applications of gyro-devices, many different tech-
niques to excite the TE modes have been reported in the
previous literature. Several types of coupling methods [12]
for the mode converters/launchers have been classified as the
sidewall coupler, serpentine or corrugated structures, coax-
ial couplers, and the multiaperture coupler [21]. A W -band
sidewall coupler designed for a gyro-TWT with HCWs con-
verting a TE(R) (C)
10 mode into a TE11 mode was reported by
Zhang et al. [22], which can operate at 90–100 GHz. For
(C)
the TE01 mode usually adopted in DL gyro-TWTs, a coaxial
coupler is proposed due to its significant advantages of higher
conversion efficiency and purer mode content [5], [6]. How-
ever, its bandwidth is quite limited because of the resonant
cavities and existence of unwanted modes, which can lead
to serious mode competition problems. In order to broaden
the operating bandwidth, another sidewall coupling mode
converter built by Y-type power dividers [12], [13] instead
of coaxial cavities was proposed. The Y-type converters can
effectively excite the TE(C) (C) (C)
21 , TE01 , and TE41 modes with
wideband properties. However, for other higher order modes
(C)
(HOMs) used in gyro-devices, such as the TE1n (n = 2, 3 or
4) mode [14], it is not easy to generate using this scheme.
For the gyro-TWTs, research was carried out at
the University of Electronic Science and Technology of
(C) (C)
China [5]–[7], [14], and HOMs such as TE01 and TE13 have
been utilized to achieve the beam–wave interaction in a DL
circuit. Thus, a mode converter testing the DL performance
is very necessary. This converter can convert the standard
waveguide TE(R) 10 mode into our desired modes. Different
from the input couplers [5], [6] inside the gyro-TWTs, high
power capability is not necessary for the low-power test.
However, higher mode purity, compact dimensions, and flat
transmission response have to be satisfied over our frequency
range focused on, which can contribute to the ohmic loss,
phase and dispersion measurements of the RF circuit and
loading dielectrics. Due to the requirements mentioned above,
(C)
a novel methodology to excite TE0n (n = 1, 2, 3) and
TE1n (n  = 2, 3, 4) modes via a TE(R)
(C)
m0 (m = 2n or
 LIU et al.: DESIGN AND MICROWAVE MEASUREMENT OF NOVEL COMPACT TE0n /TE1n  -MODE CONVERTER 4109

TABLE I
P ROPERTIES OF THE P ROPOSED C ONVERTER AND P REVIOUS R EPORTED O NES

m = 2n  − 1) mode is proposed in this paper. Table I presents

the properties of the proposed converter compared with those
of the previously reported ones. The proposed topology can
effectively achieve relatively compact structural dimensions
and a moderate operating bandwidth. In addition, it is very
easy to excite different kinds of HOMs such as the TE(C) 0n ,
(C) (C)
TE1n , and TE2n modes (n = 1, 2, 3) with a similar topology.
In this paper, as an example, novel and compact mode
(C) (C)
converters, respectively, exciting a TE01 and TE13 mode
were optimized, manufactured, and measured at microwave
frequencies. In order to suppress the unwanted modes, cylin- (C)
drical ridges (CRs) with different radii and tapered waveguides Fig. 1. Diagram of the novel TE01 -mode converter, which is constructed
(R) (R) (R) (C)
are introduced into our design. They can effectively weaken by a TE10 –TE20 mode converter (first section) and a TE20 –TE01 mode
converter (second section). Two groups of symmetric CRs are located in the
the surface currents and electric field of the unwanted modes second section to suppress the unwanted modes.
and therefore improve the mode purity. The methodology can
(C)
also be used to generate other HOMs such as the TE12 , (R) (C)
converting the overmoded TE20 mode into a TE01 mode has
(C) (C) (C) (R)
TE02 , TE13 , and TE03 modes via the overmoded TE30 , to ensure a purer mode and a higher mode conversion effi-
TE(R) (R) (R)
40 , TE50 , and TE60 modes. The rest of this paper is
ciency. In order to achieve this goal, two groups of symmetric
as follows. Section II demonstrates the principle of HOMs CRs with different radii and local positions are proposed to
excitation. Section III presents the designed results of the cut off the surface currents of the unwanted modes on the
(C) metal wall so that their electric field or mode pattern cannot
TE01 mode converter with two groups of symmetric CRs.
As an application of other HOMs excitation, Section IV be successfully generated. The CRs have been validated to be
demonstrates the simulated results of a W -band TE(C) 13 mode
an effective method to suppress the unwanted modes in the
converter. Section V gives the cold test results and mode mode converter design of SLAC [23].
purity performance of the back-to-back measurement. A brief For the first TE(R) (R)
10 –TE20 converter, the input microwave
summary for this paper is given in Section VI. will couple to the orthogonal overmoded waveguide through
(R)
a rectangular aperture and a high-order TE20 mode will be
II. HOM M ODE E XCITATION P RINCIPLE excited due to the magnetic coupling properties. The coupling
aperture shown in Fig. 1 could induce an equivalent electric
Fig. 1 presents the 3-D schematic of the novel mode dipole moment Pe (proportional to the normal electric field En )
converter to excite the TE(C) (R)
01 mode via a TE20 mode. The and an equivalent magnetic dipole moment Pm (proportional
proposed mode converter is constructed by two separate
(R) (R)
to the tangential magnetic field Ht ) [12]. Pe and Pm are as
parts: a TE10 –TE20 converter (first section) and a high-order follows:
(R) (C) 
TE20 –TE01 converter (second section). Here, a standard
Pe = en αe ε0 E n δ(x − x i ) (1)
waveguide mode TE(R) 10 is injected into wave port 1, as shown
(R) i
in Fig. 1. Then, an overmoded TE20 mode is excited at the 
exit of the first converter section, which is mainly contributed Pm = −h t αm Ht δ(x − x i ) (2)
i
by the magnetic dipoles formed in the multiple apertures.
A shorted waveguide and multistaged matching steps are where x and xi are the positions of the observing points and
applied to improve the ports reflection performance and the i th aperture, respectively, and i is the number of coupling
enhance the mode purity. For the second section, a transducer apertures. en and ht are the unit vectors of normal electric

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 4110 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 64, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2016

Fig. 3. E-field distributions of the wanted and unwanted modes might

(C)
be excited in the exit of the second section. (a) TE01 mode (wanted).
(C) (C) (C)
(C) (C) (R) (b) TE11 mode (unwanted). (c) TE21 mode (unwanted). (d) TE31 mode
Fig. 2. HOM (TE0n and TE1n  ) conversion via a transition TEm0 mode (unwanted).
(m = 2n or m = 2n  − 1).

and TE(R) (C) (C)

field and tangential magnetic field, respectively. αe and αm
are constants depending on the shape and dimensions of the
coupling apertures. ε0 is the vacuum permittivity. According
to the coupling properties of the apertures, En is zero, but
Ht is nonzero. From (1) and (2), we know that only a magnetic
dipole moment Pm is excited. Therefore, an equivalent electric
polarization current J and a magnetic polarization current M
are, respectively,
J =0
 and TE71 modes. The designed converters possess tremendous
M = − j ωμ0αm Hz δ(x − x i ).
i electron accelerators [17].
Here, we assume the electromagnetic field is sinusoidal time
dependent. μ0 is the vacuum permeability and Hz is the
amplitude of tangential magnetic field.
For the second converter, E-field amplitude in the middle
(R)
of the exciting TE20 mode is zero but opposite phase (vector
field) on the sides of the overmoded rectangular waveguide
along the width exists, which is consistent with the field
(C)
pattern of the TE01 mode. Besides, CRs can effectively cutoff
the surface current of the spurious TE(C) (C)
11 and TE21 modes.
Therefore, this scheme can successfully achieve our desired
mode content.
Fig. 2 shows five HOM conversion processes. Similar to
the design and analysis of the TE(C)
01 mode, we can predict
that if we increase the number of coupling apertures, then
(R)
much higher order rectangular modes such as the TE30 ,
(R) (R) (R)
TE40 , TE50 , and TE60 modes can be obtained based on the
(R)
same schemes. For a TEm0 mode converter, (m − 1) coupling
apertures are needed to connect the multistaged matching
(R)
steps and the orthogonal waveguide. Even TE20 , TE40 , and
TE(R) (C) (C)
60 modes can be used to generate TE01 , TE02 , and
(C)
TE03 -mode, respectively. Meanwhile, the odd TE30 , TE50 ,
70 modes can, respectively, excite the TE12 , TE13 ,
and TE(C)14 modes. From our intensive investigation, we find
out that the proposed configuration of CRs to suppress the
(C)
undesired modes in TE01 mode converter is not very suitable
for much HOM excitation, because the adjustment of the CRs
dimensions cannot satisfy the suppression condition very well
for all other spurious modes. Thus, the conversion type of the
second section has to be improved. In Section IV, a tapered
rectangular-circular waveguide is used to obtain the high-order
(C) (C)
TE13 -mode and suppress the excitation of the unwanted TE32
(3) (C)
(4) potential applications in the area of gyro-devices [14] and
III. TE(C)
01 M ODE C ONVERTER
A. Mode Pattern Analysis
In order to measure the performance of the dielectric
ceramics and transmission lines of the gyro-TWT in [5], a
Q-band TE(C) 01 mode converter was designed. Fig. 3 shows the
E-field patterns of the TE(C) (C) (C) (C)
01 , TE11 , TE21 , and TE31 modes.
(R) (R) (C)
When a TE20 mode is injected into the TE20 –TE01 mode
converter (second section in Fig. 1), not only our expected
TE(C)
01 mode is stimulated but also other three unwanted modes
will be excited, because they also possess similar electric field
contour plots at the position of coupling apertures. From the
properties of the TE(R)
20 mode, we know the E-field amplitude
in the middle is zero, but it has opposite phase (vector field)
on the sides of the overmoded rectangular waveguide along
the width. Hence, the conversion to the TE(C) 11 mode remains
(C)
at a relatively low level. For the TE31 mode, we can optimize
(R) the waveguide radius to increase its cutoff frequency, so that it
exists only outside the frequency band we require. Therefore,
the most potential competing mode is the TE(C)
(R) (R) 21 mode. In our
design, the radius of the final output cylindrical waveguide

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 LIU et al.: DESIGN AND MICROWAVE MEASUREMENT OF NOVEL COMPACT TE0n /TE1n  -MODE CONVERTER
Fig. 4. (a) Schematic and (b) simulated S-parameters and E-field contour
plots after optimization.
is 4.04 mm, which is the same as the inner radius of the
dielectrics [5].
(R) (R)
B. TE10 –TE20 Mode Converter
Based on the schematic described in Fig. 1, a TE(R) 10 –TE20
(R)
mode converter constructed by multistage stepped waveguides,
shortened waveguides, and a coupling aperture is studied. Its
diagram is shown in Fig. 4(a). Here the multistage matching
steps are adopted to improve the port reflection performance.
(R)
An orthogonal overmoded waveguide to form a TE20 mode
is connected to the multistaged waveguide by a rectangu-
lar coupling aperture. The aperture can be equivalent as
(R)
a magnetic dipole [12] to excite the TE20 mode. In our
simulation, a genetic algorithm is first used to obtain the global
parameters and then an interpolated quasi-Newton algorithm is
adopted to optimize the local structural dimensions. The final
optimized structural dimensions are given in Table II. Fig. 4(b)
demonstrates the simulated S-parameters and E-field contour
plots viewed in perspective after optimization. The simulation
results indicate that the reflection (S11 ) of port 1 reaches up
to −40 dB at the frequency of 49.5 GHz and the −3-dB
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4111
TABLE II
O PTIMIZED PARAMETERS OF THE F IRST C ONVERTER
conversion S21 bandwidth is in the range of 45.2–52.1 GHz.
A minimum peak of ∼49.5 GHz is formed because the best
matching condition is satisfied with the optimized structural
(R)
dimensions. The TE10 mode injected from the standard WR22
waveguide (Q-band) excites the desired TE(R)
20 mode with an
average mode purity of over 97%.
(R) (C)
C. TE20 –TE01 Mode Converter
Fig. 5 demonstrates the schematic dimensions, E-field
distributions with/without CRs, and simulated S-parameters
(R) (C)
(S11 and S21 ) of the optimized TE20 –TE01 mode con-
verter. In the design, another matching step between the
rectangular and cylindrical waveguides is utilized to balance
the impedance and to improve the port reflection properties.
A circular waveguide with a radius of 5.0 mm is first used
to obtain the mode we need and then a taper connects it
with the final required radius R = 4.04 mm. Two groups of
orthogonal CRs (symmetric in the transverse plane) in the first
smooth cylindrical waveguide (r = 5.0 mm) are introduced to
suppress the unwanted modes mentioned above by destroying
their electric field distribution and cutoff the surface currents.
(C)
Potential existing competition modes might be the TE11 ,
(C) (C)
TE21 , and TE31 modes. From our previous discussion, the
(C)
TE21 mode is the most serious. Table III demonstrates the
optimized structural parameters of this converter.
In Fig. 5(b), the −3-dB transmission (S21 ) bandwidth is
in the range of 46.1–51.4 GHz and the port reflection (S11 )
(C)
is <−10 dB over 46.2–50.4 GHz. Mode purity of the TE01
mode is very excellent and conversion from the TE(R)
20 mode
(C)
to the TE21 mode is under −25 dB. Combining the simu-
lation and E-field contour plots of Fig. 5, we can know the
conversion efficiency of the TE(C) (C)
01 and TE21 modes, which
are averagely 53% and 44% without the CRs loaded. The
conversion efficiency is improved to >98% and <1% after
loading the CRs. That indicates that CRs can enhance the
conversion efficiency and mode purity effectively.
In our design, we found that the radii of CRs play an
important role in improving the conversion efficiency and
 4112 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 64, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2016
Fig. 5. (a) Schematic and dimensions of the second converter. (b) E-field
contour plots with the optimized dimensions with symmetric CRs (left) and
without symmetric CRs (right). (c) Simulated S-parameters.
mode purity and also in suppressing the unwanted modes.
Fig. 6(a)–(d) present the conversion contour plots of the
(R) (C) (C)
TE20 –TE01 mode and suppression of the TE21 mode
versus r1 or r2 and the operating frequency, respectively.
With the increase of r1 , the transmission −3-dB bandwidth
(C)
decreases from 6 to 5 GHz. Suppression of the TE21 mode
[Fig. 6(c)] at a single frequency is becoming worse. As for
comparison, the transmission −3-dB bandwidth first increases
from 4.5 to 5.6 GHz and then decreases to 5.3 GHz while
increasing r2 in the range of 1.0–2.0 mm. The suppression
tailed when increasing r2 and it has an optimum radius of
r2 = 1.66 mm. From the analysis, we also know CRs with
radius of r2 mainly determine the converter performance, i.e.,
the reflection and transmission, but CRs with radius of r1
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TABLE III
O PTIMIZED PARAMETERS OF THE S ECOND C ONVERTER
(R) (C)
Fig. 6. Conversion (S21 of the TE20 to TE01 mode) and suppression (S21
(R) (C)
of the TE20 to TE21 mode) contour plots versus the changing of r1 or r2
over the operating frequency band. (a) and (b) Conversion contour plots. (c)
and (d) Suppression contour plots. All the units of the legend are in decibels.
have a relatively weak influence on the converter performance.
When the radii of CRs are far away from the optimum
dimensions obtained from Fig. 6, a larger radius will destroy
the electric field, cause other spurious modes, and then lead
to the decreasing of the mode purity. In comparison, a smaller
radius is not strong enough to suppress the unwanted modes,
so that the conversion efficiency of the desired mode decreases
as well.
D. TE(R) (C)
10 –TE01 Mode Converter
With the optimized results and dimensions discussed
(R)
above, the whole structure for converting the TE10 into
(C)
a TE01 mode is simulated. Fig. 7 demonstrates the E-
field contour plots and S-parameters of the final designed
(C)
version. The simulation returns that a pure TE01 mode has
 LIU et al.: DESIGN AND MICROWAVE MEASUREMENT OF NOVEL COMPACT TE0n /TE1n  -MODE CONVERTER
(R) (C)
Fig. 7. E-field contour plots of the optimized TE10 –TE01 mode converter.
(a) Perspective view. (b) Simulated S-parameters.
been excited in the output port and the unwanted modes are
effectively filtered by loading CRs. The −3-dB transmission
bandwidth is in the range of 46.0–51.4 GHz and the port
reflection S11 < −15 dB is from 46.2 to 50.0 GHz. Conversion
of the TE(C) (C)
21 and TE11 modes are <−15 dB and <−25
dB, respectively, in the operating band. Different complex
structures such as steps, apertures, and CRs can form many
kinds of resonators, which greatly limit the improvement of the
bandwidth and mode purity. In order to overcome these issues,
more CRs with optimized radii, loading lossy dielectrics [14],
or axial grooves along the cylindrical waveguide [24] can
also be used to suppress the unwanted modes. In addition, a
tolerance study has been carried out involving the dimensions
of the CRs and their locations, matching steps, and coupling
apertures within the range of our CNC machining tolerance
0.02 mm. The investigation shows that the performance of
the converter is not obviously affected with such a machining
tolerance.
In order to compare the converter performance with and
without CRs loaded, CRs utilized in Figs. 5 and 7 are
removed. The mode pattern at the exit (port 2) and calculated
S-parameters are, respectively, shown in Fig. 8. Obviously,
the input mode has been transferred into two different modes:
(C) (C)
TE01 and TE21 . In the frequency band, maximum mode con-
(R)
version efficiency from TE10 mode is 90.5%, which includes
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4113
Fig. 8. E-field pattern at the converter exit and simulated S-parameters
without the CRs loaded.
55.2% TE(C) (C)
01 mode and 35.3% TE21 mode. We also can
predict from the S-parameters that the average transmission
(C) (C) (C)
to the TE01 , TE21 ,and TE11 modes are –3 dB, –5 dB and
<−25 dB, respectively, between 47.0 and 51.0 GHz. The
compared results well verify that the loading CRs have an
excellent performance to improve the desired mode purity and
suppress the competition modes.
(C)
E. TE13 Mode Converter
Based on the similar methodology mentioned above, a
(C)
W -band HOM converter to generate a TE13 mode is also
designed and simulated. The optimized structural dimensions
have been given in [25, Table I]. The schematic and optimized
E-field contour plot of the HOM converter are shown in
Fig. 9(a) and (b), respectively. This converter is for the
performance characterization of the TE(C)13 mode gyro-TWT
RF circuits [14]. In order to reuse the lossy ceramic adopted
in our previous designed Q-band gyro-TWTs [5], the center
frequency of the HOM converter is shifted to 100 GHz. For
(R) (R)
the first TE10 –TE50 mode converter, four identical coupling
apertures are used. For the second converter, different from
the TE(C)
01 mode converter, CRs cannot suppress the unwanted
(C) (C)
TE32 and TE71 modes very well. Therefore, an overmoded
rectangular-to-circular tapered transducer is introduced. It has
been proved that the transducer can effectively excite the
(C) (C)
TE01 and TE12 modes [17], [18]. For the taper geometry
and detailed design, one can refer to [25].
Fig. 9(c) demonstrates optimized S-parameters including
(R)
the port 1 reflection S11 , transmission plot of TE10 to
(C) (C)
TE13 mode, and suppression of the TE32 and TE71(C)
modes. The simulated results indicate that the maximum
(C)
conversion efficiency to the TE13 mode is 94.6% and the
−1 dB and −3 dB bandwidths are, respectively, 7.8 and 9.8
GHz. The mode percentages of the competition TE(C) 32 and
(C)
TE71 modes are lower than 3.0% and 1.0%, which reveals a
(C)
pure TE13 mode satisfying our goal.
 4114 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 64, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2016
(C)
Fig. 9. (a) TE13 HOM converter geometry. (b) 3-D E-field contour plot.
(c) Corresponding simulated S-parameters.
(C)
F. TE01 Mode Converter Cold Test
(C)
Two identical TE01 mode converters designed in Section III
are fabricated with oxygen-free high-conductivity (OFHC)
copper. Due to the limit of CNC milling cutters, the symmetric
CRs radii are replaced by 0.8 and 1.66 mm instead of our
original design, but the expected converter performance from
our simulations is nearly the same. Fig. 10 shows the final
assembled identical converters, microwave measurement setup,
and the back-to-back measurement diagram. A vector network
analyzer (VNA) (working from 0 to 67 GHz) is used to
measure the converter S-parameters. In order to distinguish
the TE(C)
01 mode purity, an angle θ between the identical
converters A and B is defined in Fig. 10(b), referred to as the
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Fig. 10. (a) Complete microwave measurement setup and manufactured and
(C)
assembled TE01 mode converters. (b) 3-D modeling diagram of back-to-
back measurement. θ changes from 0 to 180° and measurement is performed
every 90°.
flange planes. Because of the properties of the TE(C) 01 mode,
we can predict that the transmission will be the same when
changing θ from 0 to 180°. In our measurement, θ changes
from 0 to 180° and data are recorded every 90°.
Fig. 11 plots the ports’ transmission S21 and reflection
S11 obtained from VNA measurements and simulations with
θ = 0°, 90°, and 180°. Simulated results (θ = 0°) are
obtained with the OFHC conductivity setting as σ = σCu /5
(σCu = 5.8 × 107 s/m). The average transmission loss from
the VNA measurement is −0.8 dB in the operating band,
which is only 0.3 dB lower than our simulated results. The
total transmission loss includes ∼35% reflection loss and the
other ∼65% loss is due to the OHFC ohmic circuit loss
caused by poor manufacturing and assembly tolerance. The
measured −1 dB bandwidth (46.2–50.0 GHz) is over 3.8 GHz.
Because the VNA can only be calibrated up to 50 GHz with
the standard Q-band waveguide, the real bandwidth should be
much wider (∼5.0 GHz) than the results we measured. Due to
the properties of the TE(C)
01 mode, S-parameters (S11 and S21 )
for θ = 0°, 90°, and 180° are plotted together and the
comparison shows that they are nearly the same, indicating
(C)
that a pure TE01 mode has been excited at the converter
exit. The microwave measurements also show several peaks
around 48.2 GHz in the S21 -parameter. They have a narrow
operating bandwidth, which is caused by the resonant cavities
formed between two identical converters. In order to verify
this phenomenon, when changing the distance of the identical
converters step by step, we can find out that the resonant peaks
are also shifting.
 LIU et al.: DESIGN AND MICROWAVE MEASUREMENT OF NOVEL COMPACT TE0n /TE1n  -MODE CONVERTER
Fig. 11. Comparison of the simulation and measurement with θ = 0°, 90°,
and 180°. (a) Transmission S21 . (b) Reflection S11 .
Fig. 12. Measured E x and E y components along the x-axis.
To obtain the field pattern accurately, a 2-D scanning
platform is used to measure the E x and E y component dis-
tributions. Fig. 12 presents the E x and E y components along
Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Electronic Science and Tech of China. Downloaded on December 04,2021 at 11:58:32 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
4115
Fig. 13. Results of different cases: with both CRs A and B, only
with CRs B, and only with CRs A. (a) Measurement. (b) Simulation.
the x-axis. Obviously, these two components agree very well,
(C)
which turns out that a pure TE01 mode has been successfully
achieved. Fig. 13 presents the calculated and measured results
of different cases: both with CRs A and B, only with CRs A,
and only with CRs B. When CRs A are removed, the
S-parameters are not affected too much, but the transmission
gets lower a little bit (∼0.1 dB) at the higher frequencies
(48.5–50.0 GHz). However, once we removed CRs B, the
E-field distribution is destroyed seriously and unwanted modes
will be excited. That is why a poor transmission is observed
in Fig. 13. This also indicates that the contribution to the
improvement of the transmission and mode purity is mainly
from CRs B.
IV. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, a novel and compact methodology via a
(R)
transition mode TEm0 (m = 2n or m = 2n  − 1) to generate
(C) (C)
an HOM TE0n (n = 1, 2, 3) or TE1n (n  = 2, 3, 4) is studied
 4116 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 64, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2016
in detail. A Q-band TE(C) (C)
01 mode and a W -band TE13 mode
converter for the performance measurement of our gyro-TWT
circuits are, respectively, designed and analyzed. Multistepped
matching and shortened waveguides are introduced to improve
the port reflection. Different methods to suppress the unwanted
modes including symmetric CRs and tapered waveguides are
utilized and excellent performance is successfully achieved.
To increase the mode purity further, more CRs with optimized
radii, axial grooves along the cylindrical waveguide, or loading
lossy dielectrics can also be used to suppress the unwanted
(C)
modes. Two identical TE01 mode converters are fabricated
and the back-to-back measurements show good agreement
with our simulation. This methodology also can be used to
(C) (C) (C)
generate other HOMs such as the TE02 , TE03 , TE12 , and
(C)
TE14 modes, which are widely applied in gyro-devices and
accelerators.
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Guo Liu received the B.Sc. degree in electronic
and information science and technology and the
Ph.D. degree in physical electronics from the Uni-
versity of Electronic Science and Technology of
China (UESTC), Chengdu, China, in 2011 and 2015,
respectively.
From 2012 to 2014, he was a Sponsored
Researcher with the SUPA, Department of Physics,
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, U.K., where
he was involved in sub-terahertz backward wave
oscillators driven by pseudospark discharged intense
electron beams. He has been with UESTC since 2015. His current research
interests include microwave and millimeter-wave sheet beam traveling
wave tubes and backward wave oscillators, gyrotron traveling wave tubes,
microwave measurement, millimeter-wave bioeffect on human body, and
pseudospark driven intense electron beams.
Yan Wang, photograph and biography not available at the time of publication.
Youlei Pu, photograph and biography not available at the time of publication.
Yong Luo, photograph and biography not available at the time of publication.