Whispering gallery dielectric resonator modes for W-band devices

The utilization of planar millimeter-wavelength whispering gallery dielectric resonator modes for the design of W-band directional filters and power combiners is studied. The device presented combines the output power of several millimeter-wavelength devices in a single step by means of whispering gallery dielectric resonator (DR) modes. At millimeter wavelengths the cylindrical DRs used on their conventional TE, TM, or hybrid modes are impractically small. When used in their whispering gallery modes (WGMs) these cylindrical DRs have dimensions larger than normal for millimeter wavelength. After a description of the WGM phenomena, both electromagnetic and circuit parameters of these resonators are defined when they are coupled with transmission lines. The analysis based on the ring resonator model makes it possible to predict the theoretical responses of any devices. Experimental results obtained for directional filters and for power combiners in W-band are given.>