Uni-planar CPW-fed slot launchers for efficient TM0 surface-wave excitation

Several new uni-planar coplanar-waveguide-fed slot surface-wave launchers are presented in this paper. The launchers are used to efficiently excite the dominant transverse-magnetic surface-wave mode inside a grounded dielectric slab for possible use in power combiners and other applications. Analysis of the surface waves and optimization of the slab thickness and other needed parameters are presented. Next, the launchers design and optimization using two commercially available software are described. The launchers were fabricated and tested. Good agreement is obtained between the numerical and experimental results.