Improved method for analyzing quasi-optical launchers

An improved method for analyzing the radiation characteristic of the quasi-optical launcher is presented. The launcher is decomposed into an open-ended waveguide and a helical cut according to the proposed method. The radiation from the open-ended waveguide is obtained by using the Stratton-Chu formulation. The helical cut's radiation is calculated based on its current distribution, gained by several iterative computations, which helps to improve the calculation accuracy since the diffraction effect introduced by the helical cut is considered during the calculation. The proposed method is used to study different launches, and the results are compared with the existing results. Good agreement is achieved between the results obtained from our proposed method and the reported results. The present results provide an alternative for analysis and synthesis of the optical-mode converter.