Study of hybrid nonlinear transmission lines for high power RF generation

In recent years there has been great interest in the study of nonlinear lumped element transmission lines for applications in high power RF generation. The line lumped elements account for the line dispersion while reverse varactor diodes or saturated inductors (used as nonlinear elements C & L, respectively) are responsible for the nonlinearity characteristics of the line. Both properties of the line (dispersion & nonlinearity) acting together allow the appearing of high frequency oscillations along the line and at its output, which can be used to feed a load antenna for RF generation. In view of that, there is a great prospect for building a very compact RF generator that can be applied in mobile platforms of defense systems or in satellite communications if the output oscillation frequency obtained is in excess of 1 GHz. Therefore, in this paper we will show through Spice simulations that in principle it would be possible to reach up to this frequency order by means of a hybrid line (i.e. using variable Ls and Cs at the same time).