Orthomode Transducers in Additive Manufacturing for Broadband and High-Power Applications

This paper presents two designs of Orthomode Transducers (OMTs) tailored to the disruptive additive manufacturing (AM) technology. In particular, in this work we propose guidelines and rules which can be adopted for the efficient design and development of such broadband OMT components in vertical 3D-printing. The final objective relates to the creation of a generic framework which should enable any designer to realize OMT topologies following specific criteria dictated by both the limitations and flexibilities of the AM technology. The numerical models of a turnstile and Boifot OMT achieve a 35% frequency bandwidth with a return loss better than 25 dB. The experimental characterization of a Ku-band Boifot OMT verifies the high RF performance of the component as well as its efficient manufacturing. The designed and optimized OMTs are targeted for high-power applications and, therefore, we further provide the multipactor analysis performed to characterize their power handling capabilities.