Gain and mode purity filtering dual polarized OAM beam generation using cavity waveguide-based 3D transmitarray

Abstract

A 3D transmitarray (TA) is proposed to generate dual-polarized orbital angular momentum (OAM) beams with gain and mode purity filtering responses. The TA units are realized by square cavity filters with the same passband and different orders and inner widths, resulting in different coupling cavity numbers. The evanescent modes in the coupling cavities will greatly decrease the propagation constant, thus generating a large phase variation. The square structure of the cavity filter makes it able to support dual-polarized wave propagation with the same phase delay and insert loss. Based on these transmission characteristics, eight different TA units are designed to realize a 3-bit phase gradient within the passband of 25.4–26.7 GHz. It should be emphasized that the dispersed transmission phase and magnitude of the eight TA units in the stopbands will deteriorate the purity of the OAM beam. Therefore, the gain and mode purity filtering responses can be realized simultaneously. In order to verify the performance of the proposed OAM TA design, a TA prototype with the mode number l = −1 is fabricated by 3D printing technology. The TA can realize the maximum gain of 25.9 dB in the passband, and the rejection level is below −15.0 dB within the main beam direction. The purities of dual-polarized OAM beams are over 0.5 in the passband, and the cross-polarization is below −16.5 dB. The advantages of the OAM TA, including gain-filtering and mode purity-filtering responses, dual-polarization, and high efficiency make it a promising solution for millimeter-wave OAM sensing and communication applications.