Compact square waveguide iris polarizer for rotation of linear polarization

This paper presents a design of a compact half-wave plate for rotation of linear polarization in waveguides. It is a well-known square waveguide iris polarizer with 180°difference phase shift between two orthogonal modes TE₁₀ and TE₀₁. A compact (L=2.7λ₀), simple for fabrication structure of six-iris polarizer was developed and optimized to meet high performances in 10% frequency band. A simple design procedure was developed, using commercial 3D EM simulator. Computer simulation of the polarizer exhibited excellent performance. The difference phase shift is 180°±2° and return loss is below -35 dB within the 12.8∼14.2 GHz frequency band. Testing of the polarizer, fabricated in split-block housing technology by milling techniques confirmed simulation results.