Broadband transition between microstrip line and conformal surface plasmon waveguide

Abstract

We propose a broadband and high-efficiency transition from a microstrip line to a conformal surface plasmon (CSP) waveguide that is made of an ultrathin corrugated metallic strip, to transform the guide wave into a spoof surface plasmon polariton (SPP) in the microwave region. The transition consists of three parts: a convertor which converts the direction of the electric field from perpendicular to parallel to the strip, a matching area with gradient corrugations and a flaring metallic line to match both the momentum and impedance, and a CSP waveguide to support the SPP waves. A back-to-back transition sample is fabricated using the proposed method. Experimental results of S parameters and near-field distributions verify the excellent performance of the sample to transform guided waves to SPPs and transmit SPP waves in a wide band. The sample exhibits low energy loss when the CSP waveguide is bent or even twisted. The proposed transition may have potential applications in integrating conventional microwave devices with the SPP devices.