Switchable edge-line coupler based on parity time-reversal duality symmetry

A compact broadband Edge-Line Coupler (ELC) based on Parity Time-reversal Duality (PTD) symmetry has been conceived, designed, constructed and measured. The coupler connects four PTD bifilar edge lines (BELs), recently introduced by the authors. The PTD-BELs are constituted by a parallel plate waveguide whose walls are formed by a junction between Perfect Electric Conductor (PEC) and Perfect Magnetic Conductor (PMC) boundary conditions. Reversing the axis orthogonal to the plates interchanges the position of PEC and PMC. Such a waveguide supports unimodal transverse electromagnetic (TEM) propagation, extremely confined along the top and bottom junction edges; its propagation is protected against backscattering from any discontinuity that preserves the PTD symmetry. The ELC presented here is constituted by a 4-port junction in which each port is intrinsically matched due to the PTD symmetry, strongly coupled with a second port, strongly decoupled with a third port, and weakly coupled with a fourth port. The ELC is designed by using a mushroom metasurface for the PMC portion of the device; the connection is based on a switch circuit which imposes open and short conditions on the two opposite sides of the structure. Switching simultaneously the open and short circuits reroutes the signal in a different port, while maintaining the same level of coupling with the other ports. A static prototype has been built and its measurements have confirmed the matching performance and the good directionality of the coupler in a broadband frequency range between 24 and 30 GHz.