Physical optics analysis of four-reflector antenna

A four-reflector physical optics analysis procedure is presented. Theoretical characteristics of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/JPL) 64 m antennas computed from this procedure were found to be in excellent agreement with experimental observations. The -band horn fields will subsequently be carried through all four reflectors (resulting in a transmission viewpoint of final antenna system beams) to account fully for all nearfield, cross polarization, and higher order mode generation effects caused by various intentional asymmetries in geometry. This appears to be the first time such a complete and rigorous analysis has been performed on such a complex antenna system. The analysis techniques presented are useful in many ongoing ground station antenna research and development efforts, including high-efficiency shaped reflector and beam waveguide feed designs and microwave metrology (holography) applied to large reflector surface measurements.