Non‐reflecting tapered slotline antenna with linear phase responses of both reflection and transmission for short‐pulse applications

Abstract

AbstractA non‐reflecting tapered slotline antenna (NRTSA) with linear phase responses of both reflection and transmission is proposed in this article. The non‐reflecting characteristic is achieved by designing a resistive and reactive loading network, which could effectively absorb the non‐radiated reflected signals and transmit the pulse with little distortion simultaneously. The integration of the loading network and the tapered slotline antenna enables the NRTSA to realize the linear phase responses of both port reflection and pulse transmission. Also, the time‐domain reflection and radiation performance of the NRTSA excited by a short‐pulse are investigated. A prototype was fabricated to verify the antenna performance. The measured results show that the NRTSA features a −9‐dB impedance bandwidth from DC to 16 GHz (200%), a peak realized gain of 9.36 dBi, a maximal cross‐polarization level of −14.8 dB (2.5–16 GHz), and a waveform fidelity of 0.95 when transmitting a Gaussian pulse with a spectrum from 4.5 GHz to 12.5 GHz. Both the non‐reflecting characteristic and short‐pulse transmission performance of the NRTSA enable it to be favorable for ultra‐wideband short‐pulse applications.