RESONANT SLOTS*

By W. H. WATSON, M.A., Ph.D.f

{The paper was received 10th April, 1946.)

SUMMARY which impedance is transferred from the position of the slot centre in
This paper describes how the coupling of a resonant half-wave guide 2 into guide 1 at the same position.
slot to a rectangular wave guide in the wall of which the slot is The coupling of variable reactances to the guide by resonant slots to pro-
cut, came to be studied in order to solve the problem of linear duce a T-section load is described, with experimental confirmation of the
microwave radiators fed from wave guides. The methods of experi- transformation of impedance and phase by the load. The method of radi-
mental investigation* are described and the results are presented in ation coefficients is applied to deduce the law of guide-coupling in the
terms of a method of representing the loading of the dominant wave general case; it may be applied to treat loading and coupling of two waves
in the guide. The important conception is the transformation of the in the same guide. Finally, directive aerial coupling by a pair of slots
circle-diagram variable (w) representing the dominant wave-system in is discussed.
the guide. Finally, the elements of the design problem for a linear microwave
It is shown that wave guides may be coupled by resonant slots. If array and the theory of the wave-guide feed are discussed. Both
such a slot is cut in the wall of a wave guide and lies opposite a register- transverse and longitudinal polarization are considered, together with
ing slot in a second guide in contact with the first, the wave guides are the effects of mutual interaction between the inclined slots cut in the
coupled if the slot can be excited by the dominant wave in both guides. narrow face of the guide in the longitudinally-polarized array. The band-
The type of coupling depends on the aspect of the slot in each width of arrays is treated and a broad-band array of inclined-displaced
guide. slotsinthebroadfaceis described with measurements of its performance.
The laws of guide coupling are explained in terms of the manner in The principle of the microwave Yagi aerial is briefly presented.

Part I. THE COUPLING OF A RESONANT SLOT TO A WAVE GUIDE

(1) INTRODUCTION readily seen that in order to produce a matched input to an array
In the early years of the recent war several attempts were of many elements, it must be possible to couple the radiating
made, for example by Southworth and Hansen to construct loads so that the conductances presented to the H10-wave in the
microwave antennas of large aperture by allowing energy to leak guide are many times smaller than the characteristic admittance
from the wave guide through a long slot parallel to the axis of of the transmission line in terms of which the propagation can be
the rectangular guide. It is easy to demonstrate that such a slot represented. Once it had become clear that the impedance of a
behaves as a parallel-wire transmission line which is continuously load in a wave guide is a well-defined conception, it was obvious
coupled to the H10-wave in the guide. Accordingly, standing that to design a satisfactory array at resonant (guide) spacing, all
waves are set up on the slot due to its finite length and radiation that was required was to find suitably coupled radiators.
from the slot is end-fire instead of broadside to the guide in the To achieve loose electrical coupling, the probes should be
way desired. Linear arrays of dipoles fed from the guide introduced near the narrow face or edge of the guide where the
through probes connecting the coaxial-line feed-supports of the electric force in the H10-wave is small. The first attempt to
radiators to the wave in the guide, were then proposed by exploit this idea was to mount the dipoles on the narrow face
Alvarez. Since the probes were introduced through the centre and to couple them to the electric field by bending the central
of the broad face of the guide, they had to be quite short to conductor of the coaxial-line feed to a dipole, into a plane
allow the energy in the guide to be distributed properly over the parallel to the narrow face of the guide. The bent probe so
array. It was found that in order to feed such an array the formed could be turned round in this plane and the coupling
spacing of the elements had to be different from A /2 and the weakened by increasing the angle between the bent probe and
guide had to be terminated in a matched load to avoid intolerable the electric field in the wave guide. As a practical device this
reflections in the main guide. The dipoles must, of course, be was not very attractive. To remove the need for insulating sup-
coupled with alternately reversed phases in order to produce a ports, slot radiators on the ends of small pieces of wave guide
beam nearly normal to the array. The work to be described in which were coupled by means of the bent probes were developed.
this paper was the natural outcome of experiments at McGill The slots were suitably "choked" to prevent radiation over the
University which were intended to reveal the proper principles surface of the guides (see Fig. 1). An array of 50 of these
on which an array fed from a wave guide should be designed. radiators was constructed and tested in April, 1943. Both the
First it was shown that the impedance presented as a shunt to input impedance and radiation pattern were in accord with
the guide by a single probe-coupled dipole could be measured theoretical expectation. The spacing of the couplings was A^/2,
by standing-wave technique and that the standing-wave ratio and the feed-guide was terminated by a reflecting plunger placed
at the input to an array of such dipoles could be calculated Xg/4 from the nearest coupling point. Fortunately the com-
according to well-known electrical principles using either the plexity and weight of this array prevented it from being adopted,
circle diagram or matrix methods. It was further pointed leaving essentially the original problem but in quite different
out that only if the radiators were spaced half of the wavelength circumstances. The ideas concerning the loading of an H10-wave
for propagation in the guide, is it possible, in general, to impose were clearly grasped, and secondly, knowing from the work of
arbitrarily chosen distributions of phase and amplitude along Booker that a resonant slot in a sheet of conductor is essentially
the array by independent adjustment of the couplings. It was a high-impedance device, it was decided to persevere with slot
* Radio Section paper, based on reports to the National Research Council of radiators. The problem then became the following. A resonant
Canada by W. H. WATSON in collaboration with J. W. DOUDS. E. W. GUPTILL,
R. H. JOHNSTON and F. R. TERROUX. t University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
slot (i.e. about half a wavelength long) is cut in the wall of the
[747]
748 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS
wide in the broad face by means of a rack and pinion with
Vernier or micrometer attachment. Obvious precautions were
taken to eliminate errors due to transverse displacement of the
probe, which was kept as short as possible. The signal was
detected by a calibrated crystal, amplified in a "noise-free"
amplifier and indicated on a multi-range vacuum-tube voltmeter.
In much of this work high s.w.r.'s were encountered; to avoid
Field error, great care was taken.
Auxiliary equipment consisted of reflecting plungers, guide
couplers, attenuators, double-stub tuners, matching loads, a
Fig. 1.—Slot radiator (with chokes) terminating auxiliary guide phasemeter of simple design, and antennae coupled by coaxial
coupled by rotatable probe. line of specially small diameter for the exploration of rad iation
fields near their source. High-power testing equipment was also
wave guide; how can it be coupled to the wave in the guide? available.
Two answers were soon found for a longitudinal slot, that is, Because it was necessary to measure the impedance and admit-
one whose length is parallel to the axis of propagation in the tance of essentially weak loads, it was obviously advantageous to
guide. measure the property of the slot by itself, free from the
A slot is excited by current flowing through it, so a longi- dominating effect of the guide beyond. Shunt loads were there-
tudinal slot cut in the centre of the broad face is not excited by fore measured with the guide terminated in an open-circuit
the H10-wave. If, however, the flow of current in the guide wall reckoned at the position of the load. This was achieved by
is distorted in such a way that the slot axis is no longer a nodal placing a reflecting plunger A^/4 from the point of loading.
line of transverse current, the slot will be "excited" and radiation Similarly series loads were measured with a short-circuit termina-
to space take place. A bent probe was therefore introduced tion secured by placing the plunger A^/2 from the load. The
through the narrow face of the guide in the transverse section impedance or admittance in the wave system between the load
through the centre of the slot. The probe was in conducting and the generator was determined with the aid of the circle
connection with the guide wall. By proper choice of probe diagram from the s.w.r. (corrected for noise) and the distance of
length and slot length, it was found possible to produce a non- the minimum in the standing wave from the point of loading.
reactive load which could be varied in magnitude merely by The travelling detector was also used in another type of
turning the probe. Further, the phase of the radiation from the measurement designed to elucidate the type of loading by a new
slot could be reversed by rotating the probe through 180n. The coupling. At first, we measured the impedance in the standing-
second method which immediately suggested itself was to dis- wave system on both sides of the slot load when the guide beyond
place the slot from the centre of the broad face parallel to itself. the slot was terminated in a matched load or variable reactance.
By properly proportioning the slot, a pure conductance was Later it was found much more effective to regard the load
obtained which increased in magnitude as the lateral displace- as transforming the complex plane of the circle-diagram variable
ment of the slot was increased. Phase reversal was achieved by w = (Z — 1)/(Z + 1), where Z is the impedance. This method
reversing the sense of lateral displacement from the centre line will be explained in connection with the general slot.
of the broad face of the guide. The same design data as before When slot radiators which were very loosely coupled to the
were applied to the construction of the array and on test it proved guide had to be measured, standing-wave measurements of single
successful. slots became unreliable. The conductance of a non-reactive
It would be out of place to repeat in historical order the shunt load or the resistance of a non-reactive series load was
various steps by which the whole picture of the coupling of slots determined from the square of the ratio of the field strengths in
was elucidated. In what follows the experimental method will the radiation from two similar slots, one of which could be
be explained and then the results will be presented as succinctly measured by standing-wave technique. Another method was to
as possible after a discussion of the method of representing the multiply the effect to be measured by placing a number of similar
loading of the H10-wave in the guide. slots A^/2 apart, when the mutual interaction between them was
known to be negligible.
(2) EXPERIMENTAL
On account of the less stringent demands for precision of work- (3) IMPEDANCE AND OTHER REPRESENTATIONS
OF LOADING
manship, it is convenient in treating single slots to work with
microwaves in the 10-cm band rather than with shorter waves. The. wave guide has been treated as a transmission line and
If arrays of slots are to be studied in the laboratory, however, reference has been made to the impedance of a load. It should
it is advisable to choose waves in the 3-cm band. Standard be understood that impedance as conventionally used is a com-
guide sizes were used. The source of microwaves was a klystron posite notion.1 On a transmission line, treated by the laws of
or other suitable microwave oscillator fed from a power supply electric circuits, impedance represents a function of the relative
of good regulation, and amplitude-modulated in a square wave amplitudes of the principal waves travelling in opposite directions
so as to permit l.f. amplification of the detected signal and to on the line at the place where it is measured. To this extent,
eliminate frequency modulation. impedance at any point of the line depends only on propagation
and discontinuities therein. The scale factor or characteristic
Since dispersion is an important factor in wave-guide propa-
impedance of the line, which determines the actual numerical
gation it is necessary to arrange to monitor the frequency. This
value of the impedance, enters through the relation of the par-
is done by sampling the output of the generator and applying
ticular vector representing the wave to the energy flux on the
the amplified output of the detector of a secondary-standard
line. So long as this relation remains the same, we may ignore
wavemeter to a cathode-ray oscillograph. Incipient frequency
the scale factor and define impedance in terms only of wave
drift is then made evident by distortion of the square-wave
amplitudes. Thus for a transmission line parallel to z on which
pattern.
are propagated waves proportional to ۥ>"' the voltage is given by
The electric force of the H-wave in the guide was measured by
means of a travelling probe moving in a central slot 0-06 in (1)
 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 749
where k 2TT/X and the impedance in our sense at the origin If w represents an open-circuit, i.e. is -f 1, with our choice of
z 0, is Z (A } B)/(A-B). The admittance y-(A-B)/(A-| B). the meaning of A and B,
A is the complex amplitude of the wave travelling in the C
f " 222 _ * - 3/C
direction of ^-increasing (right) and B is the complex amplitude W ^
of the wave travelling in the opposite direction. Tf the generator 1 ! /
is on the left, we denote B/A by w, the circle-diagram variable, Hence 2/
2^ . ]
and \w\ < 1. Evidently w - • This is the admittance presented by the load to the wave. So
The equations which represent the field components in the long as we have to deal with simple series and shunt loads, con-
dominant T.E.-wave in a rectangular guide are well known. ventional circuit methods can be applied with advantage, but in
They show explicitly the dependence of these components on a more general loading of the guide it is much more advantageous
propagation factor common to all and a distribution factor to treat the loading of the wave directly by means of the trans-
specifying how they vary over the guide cross-section. If the formation (4) of the circle-diagram variable w. Thus the
waves are detected by a method which does not vary the aspect measurements of |»v| and arg w are applied directly.
of the detecting antenna with respect to the guide cross-section, It should be obvious that for a shunt load, if w = — 1 (short-
the only variations in the measuredfieldsarise from propagation. circuit termination) w' = — 1; i.e. a short-circuit is invariant
Accordingly the dominant wave may be treated in this respect under the transformation. Similarly for a series load, an open-
like the principal wave on a conventional transmission line and circuit is unchanged by the loading, and, of course, in neither
matrix methods may be applied.2 case can the load draw energy from the guide. This affords the
Localized loading of the wave by an antenna or obstruction in best test of these types of loading the wave. For greater sensi-
the guide causes the radiation of waves which at a sufficient dis- tivity when the loads are weak, a number of them spaced XJ2
tance to allow the disappearance of the evanescent waves of apart may be used in making the test.
higher order in the vicinity of the land, consist of dominant Since a slot is excited, by current flowing through it, most
waves in a special phase and amplitude relation to the incident strongly at its centre, we can infer the simple types of loading
dominant wave. If the secondary waves of electric force on the or coupling from the position and disposition of the slot on the
two sides of the load are of equal amplitude and in phase at guide wall. If the slot is excited only by the longitudinal com-
equal distances from it, the load behaves as a shunt presenting ponent of the surface current, it must radiate equal waves in
an admittance which can be measured by standing-wave pro- opposed phase in opposite directions and is therefore a series
cedure. If the secondary waves of electric force are of equal load. If it is excited only by the transverse current, it is a shunt
amplitude and in opposed phase at the same distance, the load load. If the slot is resonant on the guide wall, then for series
behaves as a series one presenting to the wave an impedance excitation at a certain place in the guide, the radiation from it
which may also be measured. Shunt loading involves a discon- will be in phase quadrature with that from the resonant slot
tinuity in the transverse component of magnetic force at the which is shunt excited with its centre in the same guide cross-
point of loading; series loading involves a discontinuity in section. The reason for this is that the transverse and longi-
electric force. tudinal components of the surface current on the guide wall are
For the convenience of the reader, the example of a shunt load in phase quadrature in a travelling wave.
will be considered. [See Reference (2) for further details]. Let
the load on which is incident from the left a wave of complex (4) THE SIMPLE TYPES OF SLOT COUPLING
amplitude A' (reckoned at the position of the load) radiate waves In presenting the results, we take the simple rectangular shape
of amplitude —/A' and —/A' in each direction. All amplitudes as fundamental, for only two parameters are required to specify
are used with the same convention as to the positive direction of it; nevertheless, it must be pointed out that in actual practice it
the vector representing the waves. Primed and unprimed letters may be desirable to depart from this shape in order to facilitate
are used to denote waves on the left and right, respectively, of accurate but inexpensive cutting.
the point of loading. Further, A denotes a wave travelling to the
right, and B a wave travelling to the left. From the wave (4.1) Displaced Longitudinal Shunt Slots
principle of superposition, we have on equating outgoing wave Let a slot be cut in the guide wall with its long axis parallel
amplitudes with the ingoing plus scattered waves, to the axis of the guide: such a slot is found to present a shunt
A=(1-/)A'-/B 1 load to the dominant wave in the guide. In spite of the length
. . (2) of the slot antenna, this load can be treated as lumped at the
J position of the centre of the slot.
Hence It has been found appropriate in every case of loading the
A' B dominant wave in rectangular guide by means of a half-wave
1- / ' I- / slot, to treat the load as applied in the section of the guide in
which lies the centre of the slot.
When under the chosen conditions Outside the guide, the slot
has been tuned by cutting to the proper length, which is close
The transformation from the complex number pair (A, B), ar- to the half free-space wavelength, the slot presents a pure con-
ranged as a column vector, to (A', B') is effected by the matrix ductance G to the wave. Let xl denote the distance of the centre
1 / of the slot from the centre line of the broad face of the guide
(Fig. 2). Expressed as a fraction of the characteristic admittance
1-/ 1-/ An cn\ M (3) for the dominant wave,
- / 1-2/ \C21 C2l)
1-/ 1-/ ° = K™2^ «
_ C
21 -I- c22w where a is the internal width of the guide, perpendicular to the
and w = (4)
cl2w electric force in the wave, and K is a constant dependent on the
750 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS

I .Longitudinal slot
1-0
0-8
^T62cm
0-6
Fig. 2.—Transverse section of rectangular guide through centre of
slot cut in broad face. /
04
guide dimensions and on the wavelength, A. This result is /
readily understood as it shows that G is proportional to the
square of the transverse current in the guide wall. 59 cm
The conductance may be measured by the standing-wave
detector provided that a reflecting plunger is placed A^/4 from 0-2 /
the centre of the slot, at which point the line is regarded as loaded.
But this method is quite unsuited for the measurement of small /
conductances OO^o) which result from placing the slot close to
the centre line. In that case, the difficulties arising from the
need to draw energy from the wave into the detector and the
great disparity of the field strengths at the maxima and minima 0-1 /
of the standing-wave system can be avoided by comparing the
radiation fields of two slots one of which can be measured by 0-08 /
standing-wave technique. On the assumption that the slots H-58cr i
radiate with similar directive patterns, the slot conductances are
in the ratio of the squares of the field strengths measured in 0 06
space outside the guide at the same position with respect to the
slots. Experimental results in Fig. 3 show the dependence of
G on xx for standard S- and X-band guides. 004
The length of slot required for resonance, that is, to present a
pure conductance, is dependent on the position of the slot on
the guide and on its width. Measurements of both conductance
G and susceptance B are shown as functions of slot length for 002-
several widths in Figs. 4 (a)-(/). The values of conductance and
susceptance in Figs. 4 (a)-(f), 11, 12, 13 are normalized. In
. /
100
80 4— 0-01
60

40
\ 0 0-05 0-10 0-15 0-20 0-25
Slot displacement from centre of guidejin.
0-30

20
\ Fig. 3(6).—Longitudinal slot: width ^ in, resonant length indicated
opposite o on graph. A — 3-20 cm.
G/y0 = 1 - 4 0 sin* Inx/a). a = 0 • 90 in.
Guide dimensions: 1 in X -Jin.
Wall thickness: 0-050 in.

\I Fig. 5 it is seen that for a given slot position the resonant slot
length is linearly dependent on the wavelength of the radiation
A— over a 10% band. At S-band the Q of a i in or wider slot of
the type considered is about 9, which is much higher than for a
V slot of the same width cut in an infinite plane sheet. This is
undoubtedly due to waves spreading round the back of the guide
and points to the need for experimental precautions in determin-
ing resonant slot lengths.
V It follows from equation (5) and it has already been pointed
N out that when the longitudinal slot is aligned with the centre of
the broad face, the slot is not coupled to the dominant wave.
1 ^V| This is because the transverse current in the inside wall of the
0-8 guide vanishes there. This current reverses phase across the
centre line, consequently phase reversal without change in load
0-6 is effected by transferring the slot to the image position in the
broad face with respect to the central line.
0-4- 0-E 0-4- 0-6 08 10 1-2 1-4
(4.2) Series-Coupled Slots
Slot displacement from centre oF guide,in.
Fig. 3(o).—Longitudinal slot: width & in, resonant length 2 00 in for A transverse slot with its centre in the middle of the broad
displacement x less than 0 • 4 in. A = 10 • 70 cm. face is excited by the longitudinal current and presents a series
Zo/R = 1 • 73 sin* (nx(a). a = 2 • 80 in. load to the guide. The magnitude of the resistance is decreased
Guide dimensions: 3 in X liin. if the centre of the slot is displaced laterally; the law is that the
Wall thickness: 0-081 in.
 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 751

05
085

0-4 —t

\ \

•w
o-i 11

3-75 • 3-0 Frequency,c/s-109 3 ' 2 5

f-0-1
O
z
-02

2-75 3-75 -0-3

Frequency, c/s «10

Fig. 4(a).—Frequency dependence of G/Yo for longitudinal slots of

different widths. -0-
O a^in; x I in; El iin'< A ijn.
Centre of slot 0- 78 in from centre of guide in each case. Fig. 4(b).—Frequency dependence of b/Y0 for the slots described in
Fig. 4(«).

0-6
U
\\
/ N\\l} Resonant, length
0-4 Y\\ 4-78 cm
§0-6 1f \\
1
II Resonant length-V
0-2 If
4-88cm \
03
a
xn
0-5 JJ
16
It
in It
II
O II
9
2-75 Frequency,c/s*10 3 2 5 fc Q-4 II \.
i i
1
o /

2 -0-2
0-3 \

-0-4 2-75 3-25

Frequency, c/s
Figs. 4 (c) and (d).—Longitudinal slots.
O i in dumb-bell slot (holes j in diameter). H iin rectangular slot.
In each case the centre of the slot is 0-78 in from the centre of the guide.
752 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS

10 0t>

0+

0-3 t.

\ 0 2 .2
1
z
0-2 01

1-50 1-52 V54 156 156 1M) \£,2

3 Frequency, c/s« 10 s 3 25
' Slot, length) cm
Fig« 4(g).—Longitudinal slot.
G/y0 and 6/K0 plotted against slot length. Width ,',, in; centre of slot 0*268 in
from centre of standard X-band guide. ?. -•- 3-20 cm.

5-2

5-1

Fig. 4(cj.—Frequency dependence of arc tan b/G for the slots described
in Fig. 4(a).
4-9

014 0-28

< 4-8

0-12 \ 0Z4

a/
4-7
/
010 > 0-20

\ 4-6
£008 016

/
S \
4-5
•d 006 012
.6 /
1 004 008
3-50 975 1000 10-23
Wavelength, Xa|cm.
1050 r 10-75
\
Fig. 5.—Longitudinal slot.
002 004 Variation of resonant length with wavelength; width i in; centre of slot 0-648 in
from centre of standard S-band guide.

position (see Fig. 6). For these inclined series-coupled slots,

\ phase-reversal is achieved by changing the sense of rotation.
V50 1-52 1-54 1-56 1-58 1-60
This type of slot is suitable for arrays but is not so convenient
Slot length,cm.
to cut as the longitudinal shunt slots. However, it affords the
Fig« 4(/).—Longitudinal slot. electrical designer the chance to introduce series as well as shunt
G/y0 and 6/yb plotted against slot length. Width ^ in; centre of slot 0 • 133 in from
centre of standard X-band guide (1 in X } in, o.d. wall 0-050 in). X = 3 -20 cm. loading of the guide.

resistance is proportional to the square of the longitudinal surface (4.3) Inclined Transverse-Shunt Slots
current at the centre of the slot. Likewise if the symmetrical Since the longitudinal component of surface current vanishes
transverse slot is rotated about its centre, the resistance is de- on the narrow face of the guide, a transverse slot perpendicular
creased, and when close to the central line it is approximately to the axis of the guide and cut in the narrow face will be parallel
proportional to the square of the small angle from the unexcited to the lines of current flow and hence unexcited by the dominant
 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 753
3
30 , it is necessary to work with a number of slots cut XJ2 apart,
.— alternately reversed in phase by alternate reversal of the sense
of <f> [see Fig. 7(6)]. It was found that a terminating reactance
1 • was transformed unchanged by their presence, hence there is no
0-8 effective series element in the coupling of the slots. It was also
/ found that with 0 = 0, the conductance/transverse slot is less
0-6
/ than 0-0004.
/ It was soon established that mutual interaction occurs between
0-4 members of the array of these slots, i.e. the excitation of the
Zo radiators fed from the guide is in part determined by waves
/ travelling outside the guide with approximately free-space
02 velocity. The presence of this interaction is shown by measure-
/ ments of the input admittance of an array of similar slots. If
01- I there were no interaction the graph shown in Fig. 8 would be a
0-08 /
/ 0-3
006

0O4 / V V —0——0
t^rlo" u \z
/ 0-2

00?. A
0° 15" 30° 45° 60° 75* 90* 3/4
Inclination to guide axis > 8 0-1
6. Inclined series slot: centre of slot on centre of broad face
(S-band).
wave in the guide. Since the depth of the guide is less than A/2, 0-2 0-4 0-6 08 10
in order to achieve resonant length it will be necessary to cut the
slot partly in the two broad faces, but even so, the slot if cut Fig. 8.—Admittance of 1, 2, 3, . . . edge slots spaced \\g, inclination
symmetrically, its centre on the centre of the narrow face, will 15°, alternate phase reversal. A = 3-20cm, standard X-band
still be unexcited by the dominant T.E.-wave in the guide. It guide.
may, however, be excited by other types of waves inside and
outside the guide. straight line through the origin. In practice a somewhat irregular
Suppose now that the slot is turned about its centre as shown curve is obtained for the first six or seven slots; thereafter it
in Fig. 7(a). Such a slot could be cut with an end-milling cutter,settles down and by proper choice of the common length of the
slots, the later slots are made to contribute pure conductance to
the input admittance.
Experiments were made which established the presence of
waves (especially the principal T.M.-mode) on the outside of a
long guide when an inclined transverse slot, shunt-coupled to
the inside of the guide, was cut near its centre and reflection
from the ends of the outside of the guide was minimized. Figs.
9(a) and 9(b) respectively show what may be called the principal
pattern of the slot and the way in which the electric force per-
pendicular to the guide wall was distributed round the guide up
to a distance of 30 wavelengths from the slot. In Fig. 10 the
principal pattern for an array of two slots at A^/2 spacing and
coupled in reversed phase to the wave in the guide is shown for
Fig. 7(o).—Inclined edge slot (X-band). comparison. This indicates the beginning of the process by
which an array of slots "lifts" the energy off the guide and
throws it normal to the array.
Because slots are intended to be used in arrays, the fact of
mutual interaction renders of little use the methods adopted for
the study of other types without significant mutual effects.
Nevertheless it is instructive to note the reduction of the single
slot Q because the radiation from the slot can escape along the
guide. Measurements of conductance and susceptance for a
Fig. l{b).—Edge slots with alternate phase reversal. 15° slot at S-band are shown in Fig. 11.
As a step towards the elucidation of the mutual effects between
its axis parallel to the broad face and perpendicular to the axis the inclined shunt slots (sometimes called edge slots) experiments
of the guide, and the cut made in the plane making <f> with the on transverse slots on the broad face were undertaken because
transverse section of the guide through the centre of the slot. the standing-wave measurements are much easier. Seven series-
The latter is again excited by the transverse current and loads coupled transverse slots were cut on the broad face of the guide
the dominant H10-wave as a shunt. Xg/2 apart. The mutual impedance between the first of these
In order to establish the pure shunt nature of the coupling of and each of the other six was measured in the following way.
these slots, and to obtain precise values of the conductance pre- The series impedance of each slot was measured singly, then the
sented by one of them as a function of <f>, when <f> is less than impedances of the pairs. Twice the mutual impedance of any
754 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS

005

004

003
Normal to array .8
Fig. 9(«).—Radiation from single edge slot. 002
Amplitude distribution at about 1 metre in the plane half-way between the parallel
to the broad faces of the guide (S-band).
001
10 03 0-9 10 11 \-Z 13
Depth of cut,cm

Fig. ll(o).—Variation of GfYo with depth of cut.

15° edge slot d i n wide). S-band, >. - 10-7 cm.

•075

0-8 09 1-0 H W 2 1.3

--0002
\ Fig. ll(b).—Variation of b/Yo with depth of cut.
15° edge slot ($ in wide) S-band, X = 10-7 cm.
050
02

0-2!
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Distance From slot, cm
Fig. 9(6).—Amplitude decay of waves launched from a single edge
slot. (A = 1 0 - 7 cm.)
O wave on narrow face containing the slot.
[3 wave on a broad face.
A wave on edge opposite slot.

Fig. 12.—Mutual impedances in array of series slots spaced $\g

(2 • 27 cm) in standard X-band guide. A = 3 • 20 cm.
falls off approximately as the reciprocal of the distance between
the slots. Thus the main factor in determining mutual impedance
corresponds to the propagation of a nearly spherical wave from
one slot to the other, and on this basis it is not difficult to estab-
lish the result exhibited in Fig. 12. It is of some practical im-
portance to note that the waves on the outside of the guide may
be reflected by obstacles mounted on the guide such as the
Normal to array standing-wave detector: care should be taken to minimize such
Fig. 10.—Amplitude distribution at about 1 metre from pair of edge reflections.
slots, iA^ apart and radiating in phase (slots antiparallel). It is fairly evident that when an array of slots is excited from
the guide, the mutual effect between any two members of the
pair is the impedance of the two slots acting conjointly minus array will be reduced by the operation of the intervening slots
the sum of their separate impedances. Fig. 12 shows the values which will radiate into space, and into the guide, part of the
of the mutual impedances between 1, 2; 1, 3; . . . and 1, 7; waves by which the mutual interaction is caused.
the points lie on a spiral. The angle between successive points In a long array of shunt-coupled slot radiators at A^/2 spacing,
is 75° which is the difference between 255J and 180°, the respective it would be anticipated, on the basis of the foregoing paragraphs,
electrical spacings of the slots at free-space and guide phase- that the input admittance to r slots of the array, terminated by a
velocities. The limiting point of the spiral is not exactly at the reflecting plunger at the centre of the space before the (r + l)th
origin. This displacement is completely explicable by a con- slot from the input end, will vary with r according to quite a
sistent error in the setting of the plunger terminating the guide. different law when r is small, < 6 say, compared with the law
The observations quoted indicate that the mutual impedance when r is considerably greater.
 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 755
Admittance measurements were made on arrays of inclined 02
slots cut in the narrow face of the guide (1 in x | in outside
diameter) at A = 3 • 2 cm. The slots were coupled alternately
<u 0-1
in reversed phase. In any one array all the slots were cut with
the same or an equal reversed inclination and the following
g 008 /
values of cf> were used: 30°, 20D, 15°, 10°. Provided that the
length of the slots is properly chosen, it is seen that the input
|

|
0-06

004
/
admittance shows increasing conductance and susceptance as r is
increased from 1 to 6 or 7; thereafter, for larger values of r, the 1 /
input susceptance remains constant and can be tuned out by re-
setting the terminating plunger. This behaviour is shown in £3
I 002
* 0-01
/
Fig. 13, where the results are plotted on a G-b diagram. The 0008 -—1
1
— / •

0-006
0-004 10 15 IK)
Inclination oF slot 0,degreec
Fig. 15.—Edge slots: Variation of incremental conductance with
inclination.
[X = 3 -20 cm, standard X-band guide, see Fig. 7(a).]

extent the waves outside the guide causing mutual interaction in

the excitation of the slots affect the phase distribution along the
0-8 10 1-2 array. The equiphase plot is shown in Fig. 16. It is flat to
Conductance well within 1 mm over the whole length of the array. This fact
seems of outstanding significance in understanding the operation
of an array of elements with mutual interaction at a resonant
spacing in the feeder guide.
-0-4
Fig. 13.—Admittance of 1, 2, 3 , . . . edge slots, for three lengths of slot. i
graph tends to a straight line parallel to the G-axis. If the slots
l: >o w ( o oo c O O o O o o 3 O O > O O Q

are not of the proper length, the straight line will no longer be
parallel to the G-axis but will slope up or down according as 8 1 2 3 . 4 5 G 7
the slots are too short or too long. | Array
If the conductance (see Fig. 14) per slot is plotted as a function
Fig. 16.—Equiphase plot opposite first seven slots of 15-element
edge-slot array (inclination 10°).
0-t2
t_

The physical facts which must be taken into account in thinking

o-io of an array of edge slots may be summarized thus:
y
/ (a) the slots are shunt-coupled to the wave in the guide inside
5 009 which they may be treated like any other shunt load;
/
) (b) outside the guide the slots may be regarded, very approxi-
sO-08
—1 y
1
mately, as series-coupled to the principal wave on the outside of
007 the long guide in which they are cut. Slots which are not coupled
0 1 2 3 4 - 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Number oF slots to the waves in the guide (<f> — 0) can be excited by the waves
Fig. 14.—Edge slots {\\g spacing): Conductance per slot plotted against on the outside of the guide. Of course, the conception of the
number of slots. (X-band.) principal wave is very crude as a representation of the mutual
interaction of two slots close together.
of the number of slots in the array when the input admittance is
measured, we find it tends to a limiting value which will be (5) THE HALF-WAVE SLOT: GENERAL
called the incremental conductance of the slot in a long array As soon as it became obvious that a half-wave slot cut in the
of similar slots. In Fig. 15 the incremental conductance is broad face of the rectangular guide with the centre of the slot
shown as a function of <f>. To a first approximation for angles displaced from the central line, and the axis of the slot inclined
less than 15°, it is proportional to sin 2 ^. The measurements to the guide axis, is not a simple series or shunt load, it was a
are sufficiently precise, however, to show that this law is not natural first step to try to find an equivalent circuit to represent
exact for angles greater than 15°. the loading. In Fig. 17 and 18 the behaviour of the slot is
In order to extend the graph of conductance against slot in- shown when its length is varied, the centre of the slot and its
clination to smaller angles, the intensities of radiation from single inclination being kept fixed. Four types of measurement were
slots at 3,6, 10 and 15° were compared. On the assumption that made; the input impedance was measured when the guide bear-
the values for the larger angles were approximately proportional ing the slot was terminated in (a) an open-circuit, (b) a short-
to the incremental conductances in arrays of slots, these values circuit (both reckoned at the position of the slot centre) and
were used to interpolate in the graph of Fig. 15 between 0° and (c) a match, the slot length being varied in each of (a), (b) and
10°. As a final check, the equiphase surface in the radiation (c); in (d) the slot remained unaltered, while the reactance
from the array of 10° slots was plotted in order to see to what terminating the guide was varied. In each case, as the length of
756 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS
the slot was increased from a small value, the point representing
the input impedance on the circle diagram, or the Z-plane, was
observed to describe a circle in the clockwise sense. With a
matched termination, one can see in what respect the inclined-
displaced slot is intermediate between a pure series and a pure
shunt load (see Fig. 17). As the slot is turned from parallelism
with axis of the guide, the circle turns from the characteristic
shunt position to that for the series slot which is perpendicular
to the axis of the guide. The diameter of the circle for the in-
clined-displaced slot is intermediate between the diameters for
Pure Series the pure series and pure shunt slots with centres at the same
point on the guide wall. Similar behaviour is observed when
the inclined slot is moved towards the middle of the guide face
carrying the longitudinal surface current.
The key to understanding the behaviour of these slots was to
plot the results of the method (d) above on the circle diagram.
In this way the transform of the unit circle was obtained on the
w-plane. These transformations are bilinear since circles are
transformed into circles and the striking experimental fact
emerged that the self-corresponding points of each transformation
are coincident and lie on the unit circle. This type of loading
has been discussed in Ref. 2, Section 8. If e-'8 is the position of
the double self-corresponding point, the transformation is
g€js + (i _ 2g)w
w = —-. j» (o)
1 — ge~JSW
s
where gei is the transform of the matched termination w 0.
Thus by finding first the reactive termination tan 8/2 which
will put the slot out of action as a radiator, and then measuring
90° the transform of w ~ 0, we can determine the bilinear trans-
formation completely. The radiation coefficients of the slot
Pure Series antenna in the guide are as follows: when the dominant wave of
unit amplitude is incident from the left, the slot antenna radiates
waves (of the same type) of amplitudes geJs and — g to the left
and to the right respectively in the guide; when the dominant
wave of unit amplitude is incident from the right, the slot pro-
duces secondary waves of amplitudes — g and ge~J8 to the left
and right respectively. On account of the use for which these
slots were intended, it was found to be convenient to use the
Fig. 17.—Inclined and displaced slot (& in wide, S-band). >v-plane admittance-wise; tan 8/2 then represents the invariant
Above: 0 = 30°; each circle corresponds to the indicated value of x\.
Mow: x\ - 1 -0 cm; each circle corresponds to the indicated value of 6. susceptance Yv
The arrows show the sense in which the circles are described as the slot length is
increased. The guide had a matched termination. It is found that 8 does not depend on the length of the slot
but depends on the position of its centre. The dependence of
Y1 on the lateral displacement and inclination of the slot can be
represented approximately in the following way. Let a be the
conductance of the pure shunt slot with its centre coincident
with that of the displaced-inclined slot, and let y be the re-
sistance of the pure series, inclined at the same angle, its centre
being on the centre of the broad face. Experiment shows (see
Fig. 19) that when the inclination and displacement are not too
large, Yl = ± f~\ The sign to be given to Yl depends on
the inclination and displacement chosen according to the rules
presented in Fig. 20.
The dependence of g on the length of the slot can be explained
with the aid of Fig. 21. The self-corresponding point S is the
point of contact of the unit circle |>v'| = 1 and the circle 1 which
is the transform of the unit circle. The point P is the transform
of w = 0 when the length of the slot is /0. As the length of the
slot is changed, the displacement and inclination being kept
fixed, w — 0 transforms as we have already seen, into a point
of the circle 2. It will be noticed that the centres of the circles 1
Fig. 18.—Circle-diagram plot of input impedance to slot (i in wide, and 2 lie on the same radius OS making 8 with the positive real
displaced 0-536 in and inclined at 45° in S-band guide), for axis of w'. On the circle 2, the arrow indicates the direction
increasing lengths of slot, and for both short- and open-circuit of the displacement of P when the length of the slot is increased;
terminations. tp is therefore a function of the length of the slot and it is found
Note that the two circles do not cut the real axis for the same slot length.
 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 757

r_\
0
fraction round the outside of the guide may be left out of con-
sideration, leads to the result
-01 P !
K
where the complex number % depends on the displacement and
inclination of the slot only, and not on its length and width, and
§. where the real part of K, like %, can be evaluated without diffi-
\
g-0-3 culty, but the imaginary part of A'involves summation of double
•g series.
o
o. \ When the slot is similarly excited only by a wave of unit
amplitude from the right, the voltage across the slot has the
s amplitude
Si -n- r ) \
U)

•s
8-Of,
\ • • "i
where £ is the conjugate complex of £.
\ Now when the slot radiates with unit voltage amplitude at its
centre, there is radiated to the left a wave of amplitude Z.£ and
to the right a wave of amplitude L%, where L is real and depends
-08 \
only on the dimensions of the guide cross-section, the frequency
of the radiation and the field vector used in the representation.
-09 \ It follows at once that
r \Y\->

\ and 8 2 arg £ '•• n

K
C) 0-2 04 06 0-8 10
The radiation coefficients have therefore the form indicated by
the experimental results.
Fig. 19.—Susceptance of self-corresponding point for general slot
cut in the broad face.
(6) PROBE-COMPENSATED SLOTS
There is a useful type of inclined-displaced slot which trans-
Generator Generator forms a terminating match into an admittance whose real part is
unity and whose susceptance is negative, and therefore inductive,
/a
Jy •" when 8 = — -• The transform is represented by Q in Fig. 22.
Fig. 20.—Rule for sign of invariant susceptance.

W'-pltne

W- piano

Fig. 21.—Circle diagram showing transformation of the unit circle Fig. 22.—Circle diagram for probe-compensated slot
by the general slot.
also to depend on its width. When the length of the slot is /0, It is not difficult to show that in this case K must have the form
g is real and we shall call this the resonant slot corresponding to r(a + 1 — j) where r is a real negative number. The diameter
the chosen position of the slot centre and inclination of its axis. of the circle 2 in Fig. 21 is ——- and the variation of the phase
Evidently in general a+ 1
ifj = - arg g of the radiation from the slot when the guide beyond it is termi-
The facts just presented are illuminated by the results of field nated in a match is determined entirely by — \\i. The matrix
representation applied to the problem of the general near- representing the loading by this type of slot is
resonant slot in a rectangular wave guide. Without entering
fully into the details of thefieldcalculation due to Stevenson, we a ~ j
may profit by a brief reference to the principle of it. Let p'
denote the amplitude of the voltage across the centre of the slot a-l-j
a
when excited by the dominant T.E.-wave of unit amplitude inci- a-j ~J
dent from the left. The solution of the electromagnetic boundary If a short probe of the proper length is introduced through the
value problem under the assumption that the slot is narrow, that opposite broad face so as to keep as small as possible the direct
the thickness of the guide wall may be ignored, and that dif- mutual interaction of the slot and probe antennae, the inductive
758 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS
input susceptance of the slot when alone may be compensated major and minor axis of symmetry, the former associated with
by the capacitive susceptance of the probe. The latter should be the length and the latter with the width. So long as the deforma-
2/(a -f 1). The slot and probe combination allows the extraction tion is continuous without changing the connectivity of the
of energy from the guide without reflection when the termination aperture, we obtain essentially the same behaviour as the half-
is matched. The fact that the two antennae are in the same cross- wave slot near its first resonance. Dimensions for the aperture
section of the guide gives a measure of broad-band behaviour to can be found to produce resonance. Such an aperture will load
the compensation. the guide just like a resonant rectangular slot. For instance
(7) PAIRS OF SLOTS dumb-bell slots have been used; the dimensions of such slots for
If two half-wave slots are cut at right angles to each other S-band are shown in Fig. 25 and the accompanying table. The
intersecting at their common centre (Fig. 23) the following facts Dumb-bell slot resonant at 10-7
can be established. cm on end of standard guide:
Dimensions (inches):
I c 1
a C d
i 1-90 i
i 1-77
i 1-69
1-59
2-00
Fig. 23.—Crossed half- Fig. 24.—7r-section
wave slots. slot-pair. Fig. 25.—Dumb-bell slot.
(a) When one of the slots lies along the centre line on the larger the circles at the ends, the narrower the gap required in
broad face, only the other slot is effective as a radiator. The the centre. The deformed slot now resembles a conventional
electric field is polarized parallel to the length of the guide. resonant circuit in that in the circular ends of the slot, the energy
This shows that the mutual coupling of these slots is negligibly is mainly stored in the magnetic field as in an inductance, while
small. in the gap, the storage is electrical as in a condenser.
(b) As the cross is turned about its centre both slots are ex- Slots may be covered with dielectric so as to close the guide in
cited and consequently the direction of polarization is not sub- which they are cut. The main effect of this is to increase the
stantially altered. The cross presents a series load to the guide. capacitance and thus reduce the length of the slot for resonance.
(c) Suppose now that the centre of the cross is displaced from If the aperture is a sufficiently large circular or square hole cut
the centre of the broad face, one slot being kept parallel to the in the broad face off centre, there are two natural modes of
guide axis. The transverse slot is a series element and therefore oscillation of the aperture with the resonant frequencies suffi-
excited in quadrature with the other which is a shunt element. ciently close so that either or both modes may be excited. It is
One expects that this device will radiate elliptically-polarized easy to demonstrate experimentally that the radiation from the
waves normal to the guide. This is found to be the case. hole corresponds to different types of oscillation of the current
Circular polarization is possible as a special case. If the cross is system about it, depending on the mode of excitation of the hole.
moved to its image with respect to the centre line on the broad Thus, suppose a reflecting plunger is used to terminate the guide.
face, the sense of circular polarization is reversed. The effect of Let the plunger be placed A^/2 beyond the centre of the hole
terminating the guide by a movable reflecting plunger can easily so that the transverse current near the centre of the longitudinal
be deduced on the basis of the principles already adduced. side of the hole would, in its absence, be reduced to zero. The
Radiation from the longitudinal slot is suppressed when the hole oscillates with electric force parallel to the guide axis like a
plunger is A^/2 from the centre of the cross, and from the trans- transverse series slot. If the plunger is moved Aff/4, the other
verse when the plunger is A^/4 from the centre. simple mode with transverse electric force predominates as it
Another combination pair of slots, one longitudinal shunt, the does in the longitudinal shunt slots. Thus the polarization of
other transverse series, with their centres in the same transverse the radiation from the hole, and its radiation pattern also,
section of the guide is shown in Fig. 24. If the conductance of depends on the position of the plunger inside the guide. More-
the shunt slot equals the resistance of the series one and both over, these two oscillations have different phases with respect to
equal 2, then the pair of slots presents a match to the generator the waves inside the guide. Corresponding effects can be shown
and all the energy is radiated, none passing the slots in the for a circular hole: the two simplest modes correspond to the
guide, irrespective of the termination of the latter. Hn-modes of the transversefield-distributionin guides of circular
cross-section. If the hole is large enough, it is also possible to
(8) GENERAL REMARKS ON APERTURES IN THE excite the H2i-mode of oscillation, the notation again being based
GUIDE WALL on analogy with the names of the circular guide patterns. The
The rectangular slot is a particular type of aperture in the wall foregoing observations are founded on quite rough experiments,
of the guide. Imagine the slot deformed but still retaining a so the question should be investigated further.

Part II. THE COUPLING OF WAVE GUIDES BY RESONANT SLOTS

(9) INTRODUCTION and a larger registering slot is cut in guide L. The slot A pre-
The study of the coupling of guides by means of slots arose sents a shunt load to T and is coupled series-wise to L. If
quite naturally as an essential element in the design of two- several guides L p L2 . . . are to be coupled to T so as to present
dimensional arrays. In a two-dimensional array in the xy-plane different admittances in conformity with a chosen gabling dis-
made up of a series of linear arrays parallel to x, each of the tribution parallel to y, the corresponding slots A p A2, . . .
distributing guides supporting them must be fed from a trans- must be displaced by different amounts from the centre of the
verse guide, for example, parallel to the .y-axis, in such a way broad face of T.
that energy is properly distributed to secure the desired pattern The length of the slot for non-reactive coupling is different in
in planes containing the .y-axis. An example of such a coupling the presence of L from its value for an exposed slot radiator.
is shown in Fig. 26. The slot is cut longitudinally in guide T The impedance of a slot (such as A), was measured when L was
 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 759

(a) Series-series (b) Shunt-shunt

-ouplitij' slol
lot Hole in
in guide T guide L

Fig. 26.—Shunt-series coupling of rectangular guides.

terminated so as to maintain a standing-wave ratio of 2 : 1 in
the guide T on each side of the slot. The variation in impedance
as the slot length is increased is shown in Fig. 27 and for com-

20

16
\-*-Sl ot when c oupled to
"ansverse guide (c) Series - shunt
(see Fiji 26)
\
12 Fig. 28.—The simple types of coupling.
\
x_ \
It is found that the coupling depends on the length and width
\

k
R
Oft
\
of the slot and on the thickness of the metal between the adjacent
Slot -- inside surfaces of the two guides. It is likewise determined in
coupled t \
free spac part by the disposition of the slot with respect to each of the
I \ // coupled guides. The most striking result obtained when the
\ length of the coupling slot has been properly adjusted, concerns
the manner in which impedance is transferred from the position
O of the slot in guide (2), say, into guide (1) at the same position.
47 48 49 50 51 5-2 Assume that guide (2) is terminated on each side of the
Length of slot, cm. coupling slot, and let guide (1) be fed from an oscillator on one
Fig. 27.—X/R plotted against length of slot. side and be terminated on the other side so as to produce either
(i) a short-circuit at the centre of the slot (plunger distant A /2)
parison the corresponding curve for a slot uncovered by the if it is series to guide (1) or (ii) an open-circuit at the centre of
guide is also shown. the slot (plunger distant A^/4) if it is shunt to guide (1).
The importance of the laws of coupling of guides by means of The two impedances seen from the slot in guide (2) will add
slots or holes cut in the metal sheet which forms part of the wall by the law of series or shunt combination if the slot is trans-
or termination of both guides arises from the fact that in micro- verse or longitudinal, respectively, to guide (2).
wave practice it is often required to divide wave-guide paths so The laws of impedance transformation for these three simplest
that energy may be distributed according to a definitely pre- types of guide coupling, when the guides have the same trans-
scribed law, and it may further be desirable to introduce phase verse dimensions, are shown in Fig. 29, and experimental data
changes in the coupling. The slot once excited, radiates into supporting these conclusions are presented in Tables 1, 2 and 3.
both guides. Depending on the aspect of the slot in each guide, More generally, let Z', Y' be respectively the total impedance
the type of coupling and hence the law of impedance or admit- or admittance in guide (2) as seen from the point of coupling,
tance transfer from one guide to the other will change from one which is the centre of the slot, and let Z, Y be the corresponding
disposition of slot and guides to another. input impedance or admittance to guide (1) terminated in the
way indicated above. The input impedance is reckoned at the
(10) THE SIMPLE LAWS point of coupling. Provided that the length of the coupling slot
The simplest types of guide coupling by a single slot are is properly adjusted for the frequency used, for the aspect and
classified by the modes of coupling of the corresponding slot width of the slot, and for the dimensions of the guide cross-
radiator cut in the same aspect with respect to each of the sections, we have the following simple laws of impedance and
coupled guides. These are shown in Fig. 28 as follows: admittance transfer through the slot at its centre when the wall
(a) Series-series coupling: the coupling slot is transverse in thickness is negligible.
both guides which must therefore be parallel;
(b) Shunt-shunt coupling: the slot is longitudinal in the two (a) Series-series (7)
parallel guides; and
(c) Series-shunt coupling: the slot is transverse to guide (1) (6) Shunt-shunt (8)
and longitudinal in guide (2). In this case the guides must be
at right angles. This is the type of coupling introduced in
Section 9. (c) Series-shunt (9)
VOL. 93, PART IIIA.
49
760 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS
7?j and n2 are numerical constants and are equal to unity for
(a) Series-series (b) Shunt-shunt identical guides coupled in similar aspect; the numerical con-
stant «3 may be varied by changing the displacement of the
coupling slot from the central line in guide (2).
Not only may series coupling be achieved by means of a slot
Z't \\ transverse to one of the guides, it may also be achieved for
guide (2), for example, when one end of this guide abuts on to
guide (1) as shown in Fig. 30. In this case the law of impedance
'in
hi.

(c) Series - shunt Fig. 30.—Series-series coupling.

4
7*

7
/ 'in I transfer (1) holds, but now Z' stands for the single terminating
impedance in guide (2).
J 77 Inclined slots may also be used to achieve these three different
types of coupling, but the possibilities are somewhat restricted
Zm~*" in practice by the difficulty of accommodating slots of sufficient
Ad width to transfer large power. (Under the most favourable
2 conditions, at a wavelength of 10 cm a i-in resonant slot will
+ 7l K break down at powers exceeding 150 kW. This performance
111 /-r n 111 ,-r , ry I may be improved by covering the edges of the slot to increase
their radius of curvature and thus reduce the electric field
strength at the metal surface.) In series-coupling, the slot centre
Fig. 29.—The simple laws of impedance transformation. must lie on the centre line of the broad faces of the guides which
touch each other as in Fig. 31, or it may lie on the centre line
Table 1
(i) Zin =

Z'2 z2 Zin
0 0-51 0-54
0 2-9 2-9
0 -2-05 - 1-9
2-3 2-3 4-5
-2-3 2-3 0-12 Fig. 31.—Series-series coupling.
Slot centred on the broad face of both guides, may be inclined in one or both.

Table 2

K") *-in —
Z2 -\-Z2

Z'I
00
z2 Zm
-017 -019
oo -0-90 -0-97
00 + 0-21 0-23
2-3 -2-3 11 Fig. 32.—Series-series coupling.
0-96 2-3 0-71 The strength of coupling may be altered by rotating the slot about its centre.

of one guide and in one of the ends of the other as in Fig. 32.
Similar cases are shown in Fig. 33. An important case of shunt-
Table 3 series coupling is shown in Fig. 34. The axes of the guides are
perpendicular to each other. Guide (1), which carries the in-
(iii) Zin = Z\> T+, -Z\
7 clined shunt slot, fits into the recessed broad faces of guide (2)
so that a mechanical as well as an electrical junction is effected
at the coupling. It is unnecessary to place a conducting termina-
Z[ Zx Zin 1*1 tion in the series-coupled guide (2) behind the coupling slot. In
00 0 <01 standard S-band guide, the maximum inclination allowable with
-0-82 0 0-90 0-74 a slot |-in wide is 40°. The dependence of the coupling coeffi-
-0-315 0 2-33 0-73 cient on the inclination of the slot is shown for this junction in
- 3-3 0 0-23 0-75
Fig. 35.
 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 761
When the slot is not of resonant length, the coupling laws are
1 //, , .
(a) Series-series /a (10)
z Y- '
(b) Shunt-shunt (11)

1 "3
(c) Series-shunt (12)
z T
where oq, a2, a3, are real and dependent on the length of the slot.
It is found experimentally that the form (10) applies to the E-type
Fig. 33(a).—Series-shunt coupling. coupling of guides, and (12) to the H-type coupling.
Slot inclined in broad face of one guide and in the narrow face of the other.
(11) SOME SIMPLE CONSEQUENCES OF THE LAWS
The reactance introduced by the non-resonant slot is in shunt
with the impedance in a series-coupled guide, and in series with
the admittance in a shunt-coupled guide. In the series-shunt
case the coupling acts as a transformer.
The resonant-slot couplings may be conveniently applied in
the design and construction of wave-guide circuits. Since the
coupling of similar guides by a resonant slot in the same aspect
to both guides allows the transfer of impedance in the series
case, and admittance in the shunt case, without change, a means
is provided for coupling different loads to a wave guide without
requiring at each coupling operation mechanical work on the
guide in question. In particular, short-circuits and open-
circuits may be introduced without any plunger in the main
guide. It should be noted, however, that in the coupling of re-
actances and susceptances, particularly when high ratio trans-
Fig. 33(b).—Shunt-shunt coupling. formations are carried out, the resistive losses at the slot may not
YT • O (at slot) be negligible due to the very high currents flowing to it.
In practice the series-shunt coupling is of special importance.
It has been found that the thickness of guide wall, which is
relatively greater in guides intended for higher frequency micro-
waves, introduces a departure from the simple law (12). The
form which fitted the experimental facts with standard S-band
guide is
1 m
TTi
Fig. 34. Shunt-series coupling. where a may be reduced to zero by tuning the slot length, K
may not: it depends on the thickness of metal between the
adjacent inside surfaces of the guides being coupled by the slot
as shown in Fig. 36. K may be tuned out by the appropriate
series reactance in guide (2). It may be remarked that the
\ form (13) was obtained with the guide (1) terminated on one side
by an open-circuit, and guide (2) terminated on one side by a
\ short-circuit at the position of the slot centre.

14 \ (12) COUPLING OF VARIABLE REACTANCES TO THE

GUIDE BY IT- (OR T-) SECTION COMBINATION OF
SLOTS
The guide couplings used to introduce variable reactances are
•oo shown in Fig. 37, first the series reactance and then the shunt
\ reactance. In the former, the reactance presented to guide (1)
;§3
is that seen at the slot looking into guide (2). In Fig. 370), the
a. reactance presented to guide (1) is the transformed value. In
both cases it will be assumed that the slot has the proper length.
If a shunt reactance without transformation was required it
would be necessary to turn guide (2) into parallelism with (1)
and provide it with two terminations.
A series-coupled and a shunt-coupled reactance with the
centres of the coupling slots in the same transverse section of
20 25 30 35 40 the guide behave as a IT-section circuit, to which, of course, there
&, degrees is an equivalent T-section. In proof of this, data will be pre-
Fig. 35.—Coupling coefficient m plotted against 6 for the slot of sented to show how the section, which is shown in Fig. 38, trans-
Fig. 34. forms impedance. In Fig. 39 the input reactance in guide (1) is
762 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS

vat

-30
0 25

/ 20
O20

/ -1-0
K 0 15
-3 0 -20 0 20 30
/
010

-1-0

005

-2-0

n
0 05 010 015 020 0 25 030
Wall thickness, in. -30
Fig. 36.—The parameter A: [see eqn. (13)] in terms of wall thickness.
The wall thickness is measured as the thickness of the metal in which the slot is cut
and does not include the thickness of the wall of the second guide, which is standard. -4-Ql
Fig. 39.—Input reactance vs. terminating one with 77-section.
2s Zs Zs

Zo ZP
•p 'O

7T- Section T- Section

Fig. 40.—Equivalent sections.
II-section and y the common impedance of the series elements of
the T-section equivalent to it, then
(a)
Fig. 37.—Slot-coupled reactances.
(«) Series-coupled. (6) Shunt-coupled.
The graph of Z.n against Z when the latter is a pure reactance
is a rectargular hyperbola with centre at [— Ky + I/a),
Ky+l/a)]. The constant of the hyperbola is [i(y—I/a)] 2 . From
these facts a and y have been determined for a number of pairs
of slots, and Fig. 41 shows these values against the measured
reactances introduced by the shunt and series slots separately.
It will be seen that a very fair approximation is obtained by
putting
Variable a = One half of the shunt admittance of the longitudinal slot
plunger and
y = One half of the series impedance of the transverse slot.
A wave explanation of this result using the methods of Part I
is presented later; the immediate deduction is that the mutual
coupling of the two reactances is zero.
Before leaving consideration of the circuit shown in Fig. 38 it
will be indicated how it may be used as a phase-changer in a
Fig. 38.—II-section arrangement. matched guide. Suppose that we make a = y = j tan \d, then
we may easily deduce that when the guide termination is a match,
plotted against the terminating reactance in guide (1), both being the input is likewise matched and there occurs the phase change 9.
referred to the characteristic impedance of the line equivalent to The theoretical and observed phase shifts are shown in Fig. 42
the dominant-wave circuit in the guide. Fig. 40 shows the and the equivalence of a and y is also established. They must
equivalent II- and T-sections. It is not difficult to show with both be pure reactances and the condition for matched trans-
the aid of the matrix methods described in a recent paper2 that mission is that the product of the series and shunt reactances
if a is the common admittance of the shunt elements of the shall be — 1. This is shown in Fig. 43.
 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 763

2-5

20

5 -1 --5 5 1-0
Observed rea
of shunt slot 1-5
Experiinentolu
curve

10

05

60 120 180 240 300

V Resulting change of phase, degrees.

W3-O5

Fig. 41(o).—Observed vs. theoretical reactance of shunt slot

rlO -10
\ Exponmenta:
(Theoretical ^ Elrve
-1-5
Observed reactance of series slot
-30 -2*5 -20 -1-5 -1-0 0-5 10 l
-5- -20

-1O-
-25
•1-5 • Fig. 42.—Phase change due to matching 7r-section slot combination
Fig. 41(6).—Observed vs. theoretical reactance of series slot.
(13) RADIATION COEFFICIENTS IN GUIDE COUPLING
By the method previously used by the author, we can explain
these results for the wave guide in terms of the waves radiated In order to explain the method of radiation coefficients by
from the slots, instead of relying on the somewhat artificial which the laws of guide coupling may be deduced, we shall first
circuit analogue. The slot coupling the shunt reactance acts consider the simple case of series-series coupling of similar guides
as an aerial in the guide and radiates on each side H10-waves in similar aspect to the coupling slot. When a wave of amplitude
of equal amplitude and in phase at equal distances from the Aj is incident from the left in guide (1), the coupling slot radiates
centre of the slot. The series slot radiates waves of equal a wave gA\ to the left and — gA\ to the right in guide (1) and
amplitude and in opposed phase. Let / be the rad:ation — gA\ to the left and gA\ to the right in guide (2). These are
coefficient of the former and/' that of the latter. Then applying represented in Fig. 44. The senses assumed correspond to the
the principle of superposition to the complex amplitudes of the relative voltage due to the series slot cut in both guides. The
ingoing and outgoing waves, we have equations expressing the outgoing wave amplitudes in terms of
the incoming waves are given in equations (16) where subscripts
A - [I -(/+/')]A' | (/'-/)B refer to the guides, primed letters to the left of the slot, unprimed
B' = (/' - /)A' I [1 - (/ + /')] B to the right, and as usual A denotes a wave travelling to the
Thus right, B a wave to the left; thus
1 r-f A, = (1 - g)A\ + gA'2 + gBl - gB2
A' - -B
1 (/I/O A2 = gA[ + (1 - g)A'2 - gB{ + #B2
(15) (16)
B', = gA[ - gA2 + (1 - s)B, + gB2
B' :
-- (/i /o L w
' ' ' l~(frJJJ j B'2 = - sA; + gA'2 + gB{ + (1 - g)B2
The matrix M representing the transformation due to this double In order to determine the impedance relations we put B — An;
loading can be read from these equations. For matched trans- thus reducing (16) to a set of four equations homogeneous in the
mission it must be diagonal. Thus/' — /, then M becomes incoming wave amplitudes Bv B2, A'v A'2. The determinant of
0 the coefficients must therefore vanish; i.e.
~
0
2/)~i
1-2/J 1 1— g g g - 1/H', ~ g
But since If - the phase shift is given by arg
1 - \OL g I- g ~g g — 1/
1 ' _1»/
= 0 (17)
1 ( \OL g —g 1 — g g
which immediately leads to the result stated above. —g g -w' g 1 —I
764 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS

8
1
8 '—I ' '
1
1
NT N
(N

1
1
N If
(M
8 v r-i
-{- N N
- fS
1 <N
N
N N NN
Shunt reactance, -?fa,ohnis
+ 4-j is

- +
| !

I
I

-2
N
N 1
o N
-3 N

C5.

00

'Si
o
o
Fig. 43.—Series reactance plotted against shunt reactance for no
reflection from the section.

* k

Guide 2

\ •*-\— I | »• -gA'i Guide 1

8

8
+
I
Coupling +
point

Fig. 44.—Wave amplitudes in series-series coupling of similar guides. +

From this we obtain
+
1 - 2g (w'2 - 1)(1 - wv> , (w; - 1)(1 - w,)
= " I "

Z — 1
We now substitute M1 -- —-—-. all impedances being reckoned
positive looking to the right, and we have
1 - 2g 1 , 1
g Z2 Z2 Zj — Zj tan
Since Z, - 0 and Z 2 — Z 2 ---- Z', we obtain
unt lot

1 1 l-2g g^ I/]

z; 2g
When the slot is properly tuned and g is real, it follows from the x:
equation of the input and outgoing energy in both guides that a *° "a
3 T3
2 *c3 O C
U C3
1 - 3g2 r (1 - g)2 (5 on

and g -J. Thus the simple form (1) for guides of the same Jit 1 .u
'u.

cross-section is deduced.
 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 765

The foregoing method has been applied to a variety of cases, unity, there are radiated waves of amplitude L&{ and L£2 to
By making suitable assumptions regarding the phases of the the left in the respective guides and to the right L ^ , and L ^ , .
radiation coefficients, it is possible to represent any guide Thus if the wave A', is incident on the coupling in guide (1) from
coupling by slots The results for a number of cases are given ^ ^ ^ . ^ tQ t h e ,cft Jn .g L ^
l
in Table 4; Fig. 45 shows the meaning of the coefficients intro- C
and to the right is ~^~AJ. and so on. We can set up the

'4 ,Z9 equation system analogous to eqn. (16). For example, one of
the equations reads

(a) (b) Proceeding in the same way as in the simpler case, using the
equation of energy and writing <j>l ---2 arg $v <f>2 -= 2 arg £2, we
reach the result
-fet
z;+ X H'. — W.

ImC
r»2 — W-
n2
(c) (d) from which the law of impedance transformation can be deduced
Fig. 45.—Radiation coefficients (see Table 4). in any particular case.
duced. In the treatment of the general case of single slot (14) DIRECTIVE ANTENNA COUPLING OF GUIDES
coupling, the principle of the calculation based on the ideas Suppose that the second guide is coupled, by a pair of antennae,
introduced in Section 5 will be used. to the first. If one of the antennae is shunt-coupled and the
Let the slot be excited by a wave of unit amplitude from the other series-coupled to guide (2) at the same position in that
left in guide (1), all the other incoming amplitudes being zero, guide, then the radiation from the two antennae will be greater
then in place of the equation p' = XJK'm Section 5, which applies in that direction along guide (2) in which the fields are in phase.
to the slot radiating to space, we find for the voltage amplitude When complete cancellation occurs in the direction which was
at the centre of the slot formerly that of weak radiation, all the energy is transmitted in
the other. If two similar guides are coupled by a pair of slots
each in the same aspect to the guides, one being shunt-shunt,
the other series-series, a wave entering one guide is switched
where C plays the part of K in the previous discussion, and £t completely at the slots to emerge from the other guide, there
is the value of £ for guide (1). Similarly for excitation by unit being no reflection from the junction. This result is in accord
amplitude from the right with theory using the method indicated above.
Directive coupling may be achieved by a pair of coupling
antennae not in the same cross-section of either or both guides.
When the incoming wave is of unit amplitude in guide (2), the The pair of antennae may be regarded as a directive array. If,
corresponding voltage amplitudes at the slot are however, they are separated in both guides and both tuned to
resonance, coupling will only occur if the electrical spacings in
P2 kC and P2- the two guides differ by an integral multiple of 2TT.
In order to deal with the multiple coupling of guides, it is
Now when the voltage amplitude at the centre of the slot is appropriate to use matrix methods.2

Part III. SLOTTED WAVE-GUIDE ARRAYS

(15) INTRODUCTION (16) LINEAR RADIATORS
The advantage of microwaves is that they permit, in practice, In long arrays with many elements among which the energy
aerial apertures to be many times the wavelength in width and is to be divided, each element must be comparatively weakly
hence they produce very narrow beams. To spread the energy coupled to the guide. It has already been pointed out how
over this aperture, an array may be fed from a wave guide. The well suited, for this purpose are slots cut in the guide wali,
physical considerations entering the design of such an array are for they can be cut in somewhat different ways to control the
twofold. First, well-known principles are applied to determine degree of coupling, without at the same time introducing into
the amplitude and phase distribution over the aperture required the radiation pattern serious effects due to the varying aspect or
to secure the desired radiation pattern. There remains then the disposition of the slots, either on account of their displacement
electrical problem of imposing these distributions and at the from the central line on the broad face of the guide or on account
same time ensuring maximum power transfer from the generator. of their inclination to the guide axis, or, in fact, due to a com-
Jt is with this problem that the present paper has to deal. bination of these. Further, since the slot is placed close to a
A linear array from which the electric force in the main lobe position where the exciting current on the guide wall vanishes
is at right angles to the axis of the array, will be called transversely and changes sign, the reversals of phase which are essential in
polarized. If the electric force is parallel to the plane through the arrangement of linear arrays intended to radiate substantially
the point where it is measured and containing the axis of the broadside in a single lobe, can be introduced just as easily as the
array, it will be called longitudinally polarized. These terms variations in amplitude of excitation.
will also be applied even when they are only substantially correct. It is convenient to classify linear radiators in two types:
766 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS
(i) fixed, (ii) variable azimuth for the main lobe, as the frequency to produce attenuation of both waves, both series and shunt
of the radiation is altered. The former is essentially a narrow loading would be required at A^/2 spacing. The matter may be
band device, the latter is generally much less frequency-sensitive. stated somewhat differently as follows. At a non-resonant
From the point of view of theory, it should be possible to cal- spacing, with weak coupling, the standing-wave ratio never
culate the phase and amplitude of excitation of the elements of departs seriously from unity anywhere along the guide when it is
an array, each element being coupled in a given way to the terminated in a match, whereas with resonant spacing, the
system of waves in the guide, no matter what that system is on standing-wave ratio varies from infinity to unity if the guide is
account of loading. Conversely, in principle, it should be fed from one end and has matched input. It should be noted
possible to deduce the couplings necessary to produce the re- that a travelling-wave aerial must be end-fed, otherwise a dis-
quired amplitude-phase distribution. In practical arrays, there continuity in phase-gradient will occur at the feed-point. In a
are only two alternative conditions which can be adopted as the standing-wave aerial, the feed-point may be at one end or it
basis of design because of the required stability of the phase may be near the middle of the array, and in the latter case by
distribution for a good main lobe. These are: (1) the guide is skilful design it may be possible to secure somewhat greater
terminated by a reflecting plunger and a standing-wave system band-width.
is established in the guide. Alternate couplings reverse phase In order to prevent instability of phase when resonant spacing
and the elements, being spaced Ag/2 apart, radiate in phase. The is used, the elements must be coupled at maxima in the standing-
main lobe from the array is normal to the guide. This is the wave of mean frequency which excites them, i.e. shunt loads
narrow band type of array, often referred to as resonant spacing. should be placed at voltage maxima, series loads at current
The band-width of this arrangement is proportionately reduced maxima. The amount of power drawn from the guide should
the longer the array, for the limiting condition is that for N ele- be determined by presenting to the wave in the guide the proper
ments, the fractional change l/7Vin the frequency will put one of admittance or impedance. Attempts to control the power taken
the elements in opposed phase. For the fractional change n/N, from the guide by any other method are likely to lead to in-
(N — n) elements will radiate in phase and n elements in anti- stability of the phase distribution.
phase, arid the beam will split. For this reason it is of the
greatest practical importance in constructing long arrays of this
(17) THEORY OF THE WAVE-GUIDE FEED TO A LINEAR
type, to measure the wavelength in the actual guide to be used
ARRAY
for the mean frequency of the band, otherwise the array will not
In the theory of the feeding of an array from a wave guide, it
function over the desired band. It may, however, function
is assumed, in the first place, that the mutual effects between
satisfactorily over a displaced band. (2) The alternative condi-
elements of the array, apart from their coupling to the H-wave in
tion which allows a good approximation to a constant phase-
the guide, may be neglected. This method will therefore apply
gradient along the array, consists of a travelling wave in the
fairly closely to arrays of longitudinal shunt and series slots, but
guide. Since the velocity of propagation in the latter is usually
not to transverse slots. For the purpose of the argument, only
about one and a half times that in free space, the main lobe will
shunt loading will be discussed, but the principle of the method
be radiated at an inconvenient angle to the normal of the array,
is applicable to any type of loading.
when the elements radiate in phase with the wave in the guide
where they are coupled. Accordingly, alternate elements are Let yr be the admittance of the r-th shunt load in the array of
coupled in reversed phase, and, unless the coupling device does JV elements, the AT-th load being most distant from the generator.
not reflect in the guide, it is necessary to space the elements Let vr be the voltage in the equivalent transmission line at the
position of the r-th load. If the loads are spaced equidistant d
sufficiently differently from A^/2 in order to present a satisfactory
input impedance over a band of frequencies, the guide being apart, or 9 radians reckoned on the unloaded line, the difference
terminated by a matched sand-load. Two spacings have been equation satisfied by the voltage* is
used, viz. 160 and 200~ (guide), the latter being preferable. vf+l — 2 cos 6 vr + iv_! = — JY,-i sin 6 vr . (19)
When 6 is an integral mutliple of 77, say mrr,
It is possible to maintain a sufficiently good approximation to
a travelling wave in the guide and to obtain the proper amplitude vr+l=-(-l)mvr (20)
distribution, only if all the elements are weakly coupled to the showing that the voltage wave is not attenuated. If ir denotes
wave in the guide, that is, if each element produces negligible dis- the current immediately to the right of the r-th load
turbance of the feed. This requires that a considerable fraction
(from 5 to 20%) of the input energy may have to be dissipated (21)
in the sand load terminating the guide. The waste of energy
varies with the frequency of the waves, and is one of the main where Kis the constant voltage, and / 0 is the current A^/2 in front
factors limiting the band-width of arrays of this type. of the first load. This shows the decreasing current wave in the
The fundamental distinction between the standing wave and shunt loaded line at resonant spacing of the loads.
the travelling-wave aerials is that in the former the loads are It remains now to discuss non-resonant spacing. In a long
effectively at the same place on the transmission line and com- array the yr should be small compared with unity for weak
pete for power exactly like the parts of a d.c. circuit, whereas in coupling in the proper physical sense of negligible local dis-
the latter, the exciting wave is attenuated by the absorption of turbance of the feed, and further, yr is not a rapidly changing
power in the series of loads; hence for the equal excitation of function of r.
two elements, that farther from the generator must be more Let us treat equation (19) by the analogue of the method of
strongly coupled than the other. With half-wave spacing, if the variation of parameters writing
elements are all shunt coupled, the wave of electric force in the vr = Artor + Broj~r, co = e# . . . (22)
guide is not attenuated; the wave of transverse magnetic force is
attenuated, but since the elements are voltage-excited, they are with the auxiliary condition
unaffected by this attenuation when the frequency corresponds ( A r + 1 - A > H - i 1 ( B , + 1 - B > - ( ' + ' ) - 0 . (23)
exactly with the spacing. If the elements were series coupled at so that
the resonant spacing, the current (magnetic force) wave would Vf+l _ Vf == Ar(a> - l)a/ ! B,«-'(w-i 1) . (24)
not be attenuated, whereas the voltage wave would. In order * The time factor e~Jat is suppressed.
 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 767
Thus the second-order difference equation (19) in vr can be re- the conductance gs. The fraction of energy reaching the
placed by a pair of first-order equations in Ar and B r . In con- terminating load is represented by
sequence of the smallness of yr we proceed on the assumption N
that A r and B r do not vary rapidly with r and hence the pair of
e X P
difference equations may be replaced by differential equations
in which the variable x\d replaces the index r. These equations
are
(18) AMPLITUDE DISTRIBUTION AND INPUT IMPEDANCE
JA ,.dB n
(25) In the case of half-wave spacing the radiators may be co-phased
dx dx
by making them pure conductances gr, so that the input con-
,/A ductance to the array can be made unity or any desired value G,
(1 and the amplitude distribution along the array made to follow
dx dx
the desired law./, simultaneously, by means of the relation
-JsinOyQ
. (26) (35)

Comparison of these equations shows that

dA Ay(u) — to- 1 ) dA To secure the desired amplitude distribution in a travelling-
(27) wave aerial, one must take into account the attenuation along
}
dx L Id = dx
the wave guide due to the loads. Let er be the fraction of energy
.dB , By(co - dB to be extracted by the r-th radiator from the generator end, and
(1 o>)— + —^ —j (28) let fr be the amplitude of excitation for that radiator, then we
dx 2« dx
require
where /x is a multiplier still to be determined.

If fix) = Yydx and f(L) = Q where L = Nd, then

or . . . . (36)

. (29) Since the fraction of energy taken from the guide by a radiator
B in a travelling wave is equal to the conductance presented by it
to the waves, we have
The value of /x is deduced in terms of the ratio of the input . . . . (37)
and terminal values of the circle-diagram variable w = — g ,
A
reckoned at points distant an integral number of half-wavelengths In order to fix the values of # r , the conductances, the value of
from the origin of x. We find one of them must be known. This will generally be decided by
2(2 one or other of the following considerations: (a) there is a
= cos 0 + JXP -!- 1)* sin 0, where/? = d (30) maximum value of conductance that can be tolerated consistent
**(£) with the hypothesis of weak coupling and satisfactory phasing,
or in the case of slots, consistent with satisfactory radiating pro-
If H>r is near zero (matched termination) p will be small, and perties with respect to polarization and side lobes from the array,
therefore 1 — ii tends to cu, so we obtain the following approxi- and (b) the amount of energy to be dissipated in the terminating
mate formula load must be sufficiently small so as not to reduce unduly the
efficiency of the array. Except for long arrays, these two con-
(31)
siderations usually conflict, and in practice it is necessary to
strike a compromise.
or reverting to the discrete loading Computation of the conductances is greatly facilitated by
noting that if
A p = A o exp (32)
(38)

the simple formula

while . . (33) yr - yr+1 -f f? (39)

The expression for A r shows the attenuation of the wave is obtained with
travelling from the generator, that for B r the growth of the re-
flected wave. It has already been shown how to calculate the
ratio w>i/wr by matrix methods in the case of weak loading. If attenuation in the guide takes place in significant amount
due to the finite conductivity of the walls, let 8 be the fraction
In general ys is complex, ys — €s— jbs. The presence of
of energy lost due to this cause between two successive radiators,
susceptance modifies the velocity of phase propagation, but the
then equation (39) must be replaced by
uniformity of the phase gradient along the radiators of the array
will be preserved if the gradient of the susceptance along the
array is small. The attenuation of the wave is determined by
768 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS
To study the variation of the input impedance, we make use The first array of slots cut in the guide wall consisted of
of the result already referred to, viz. 49 longitudinal laterally-displaced slots in the broad face, A^/2
being the spacing between the centres of successive slots, with
the guide terminated by a reflecting plunger A^/4 from the last
. (41) slot centre. The conductance presented to the dominant wave
1 in the guide by each slot was determined by its distance from
When the termination is matched, wT 0, and the centre of the guide in accordance with the law G •— Ksir^irxja
[see equation (5)], the constant K being found by measurement.
2S
H.i J?^I (42) Phase reversal was secured by placing alternate slots on opposite
sides of the centre line as shown in Fig. 47(a). This particular
As 0 is varied, the sum which is the numerator of this fraction
undergoes rapid fluctuations but its modulus remains small
compared with }£y s except when 6 ^ mrr (m integral). Indeed
a graph of the modulus of the sum against 6 will resemble the
diffraction pattern of a grating with principal and subsidiary
maxima. Thus when the terminating load is non-reflecting, (a)
|M>J| and hence the standing-wave ratio will exhibit fluctuations
like the sum in question when the electrical spacing of the ele-
ments is altered by varying the velocity of propagation in the
guide, either as the result of changing the frequency or changing
the width of the guide cross-section. That is, it is not possible
to feed the same array when 6 — mv and in the vicinity of these
values. The fluctuations in standing-wave ratio to be expected
are illustrated in Fig. 46.

\ .10 cqu»l conductances -0-1

Fig. 47.—(a) Transversely- and (ft) longitudinally-polarked
Y • slot arrays.
i , 7 5 equal conductances O-0133/f
S\ I I
array was centre-fed: in such a case it is necessary to take into
account the phase relationship of the waves to the right and left
of the point of coupling. If the coupling of the generator feed
in the guide array is series, the two waves are in anti-phase, if
shunt they are in phase. Consequently for a centre-fed array,
it is necessary to know the method by which the transmitter is
coupled to the guide in order to cut the slots correctly.
This array had a sufficiently large number of elements so that
even the most strongly coupled slots in the centre of the array
did not have to be displaced from the centre line by a distance
160" 165 170° 175° 180° 185° 190° 195° 2O5° great enough to distort sensibly the radiation pattern from the
Electrical spacing of loads array. The polarization was of course transverse. The stagger-
Fig. 46.—Input standing-wave ratio for two arrays. ing of the slots with respect to the centre line introduced no
Dotted curve: 10 equal conductances. observable spurious radiation.
Full curve: 75 equal conductances. The following refinements and simplification arise in the
In each case the total conductance is 3C0.
practical development of this device:
On the other hand, if wT ----- 1 (open-circuit termination) and (i) choice of adequate slot-width;
N (ii) since the slots must be covered with weather-proof
>ys 1, then when B^nm, w, - 0, i.e. the input is matched. dielectric the length of slot for resonance must be measured
5=1
for the covered slots;
(iii) the length of slot for resonance varies slightly with dis-
Even when Xys g < 1, we can secure a matched input by placement of the slot centre on the broad face of the guide;
choosing wT •=--—, but of course, if g > 1 there is no possible (iv) it is not necessary to cut the slots with displacements
2 - g exactly as calculated, the displacements can be forced to the
termination of the feed guide yielding a matched input. From nearest figure found suitable for the machine work of cutting
equation (41) it is easily seen that for a system of equal loads (usually with an end-mill). These same considerations apply in
intended to match at half-wave spacing, the input admittance is the construction of travelling-wave antennae using these slots.
reduced to a half when 9 is changed from IT to the nearest zero An array having the same polarization but not so convenient
of sin Nd, that is, the wavelength is changed by the fraction 1/2N. to cut could be made with inclined series-coupled slots; the in-
These considerations explain the sensitivity of the input admit- clination of the slots to the guide axis would be small enough to
tance of a long array to frequency at A^/2 spacing. give a good radiation pattern, provided that a sufficient number
(19) TRANSVERSELY-POLARIZED ARRAYS OF SLOTS of elements comprised the a/ray.
In Sections 1-8, it was related how the invention of slot
arrays was the natural outcome of the search for radiating ele- (20) LONGITUDINALLY-POLARIZED SLOT ARRAYS
ments which can be coupled so as to present a low, pure con- In many practical antennae, longitudinal polarization is
ductance to the wave in the guide. desired because of the increased contrast possible in the radar
 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 769

>
pictures resulting from the use of this polarization. It may be
0 05
provided by means of the inclined shunt-coupled slots cut in the
narrow face of the guide. These slots make only a small
angle (<j>) with the plane perpendicular to the guide axis. Because

/I
004
of the mutual interaction between these slots in virtue of waves
propagated on the outside of the guide the exact design problem
is quite difficult. Firstly, it is not easy to obtain precise measure-
ments of the parameters which represent the mutual effects, f 0 03
secondly, the conditions governing propagation outside are
complicated, and thirdly, even if the foregoing information were 3f
obtained with the necessary accuracy, special computing methods
would be required to give, in practice, the required result.
Arrays of inclined shunt slots may be constructed with resonant
or non-resonant spacing [usually 200° (guide)]. The latter
affords a somewhat easier crude approximation in design which
we now consider. With a matched termination, the attenuation
002 1
of the wave in .the slotted guide, due to radiation by the slots, 16 20
8 12
was measured as a function of depth of cut; the slots were cut Number of slots
at the same inclination but in alternately reversed senses [see J
Fig. 47(6)]. For a sufficiently great number of slots, there was Fig. 49.—Array of 10° edge slots (width ft in) spaced at 200 (guide).
/„ = fraction of input power radiated by n slots.
found a particular depth of cut for each single angle of inclina- k = C/Ko for n > 20.
tion ((f>) of the slots which makes the power radiated by the array
a maximum (see Fig. 48). For different § « 15 ) the overall O2O

36

0 10
32
0 08 7
\
OO6

O-O4
7
1
:zo

\ 002

085 090 095 100 105 110 115

Depth of cut,cm
Fig. 48.-10° edge slots at 200° (guide) spacing. A = 10-7 cm.
001
8 12 16 20
length of the slot measured on the outside of the guide is the 0, degrees
same for maximum radiation. Consequently, to apply the
information presented below one should approximate to con- Fig. 50.—Effective conductance in terms of inclination of edge slots
in long array with alternate phase reversal.
stancy of length of slot rather than constancy of depth of cut. c
Spacing 200 (guide). Standard S-band. o G/K = 1-66 sin* <f>.
This attenuation measurement with a large number of similar
2
slots gives a useful estimate of the contribution of the individual the slots. It is seen to follow the sin </> law. It is fortunate
slots in a gabled array at the same non-resonant spacing, pro- that at 200° spacing, the effect of mutual interaction is to in-
vided that the array is long enough so that the gradient of slot crease the power radiated per slot at a given inclination, so that
inclination along the array is nowhere rapid. the amount of unwanted polarization to be tolerated for a given
Measurements showed that it is necessary to use more than radiation per slot is less than would be expected on the basis of
10 slots in order to attain a steady value of the logarithmic single-slot measurements.
decrement (k) per slot. In Fig. 49, k is seen to depend con- Fig. 51 gives the depth of cut as a function of <j> for maximum
siderably on n, the number of slots. The limiting value of k for radiation by an array of similar slots cut alternately in reversed
w large is 0-049 when <f> = 10°; this represents ihe effective con-phase at 200° spacing. This graph is consistent with the hypo-
ductance G/Yo of each slot in the array. The admittance of one thesis that the overall length for maximum radiation at the given
of these slots was measured and found to be 0 017 + 0 015/. frequency is independent of the inclination (<f> < 15 ). As a
It is obvious that the particular depth of cut (slot length) yielding practical compromise at A — 10-7 cm, it seems reasonable to
maximum radiation by the array at a given wavelength is deter- propose that slots for which 10° < <f> < 15° should be cut
mined by the mutual interaction of a large number of slots at 0-95 cm in depth, also slots of smaller inclination than 101 should
the particular spacing adopted; so far as the wave in the guide be cut to a depth of 0 • 99 cm in standard guide for the band.
is concerned, mutual susceptance is approximately cancelled by Since arrays of these slots are desired to give a certain measure
self-susceptance. Further, a different result would have been of broad-band behaviour, it is interesting to compare the effect
obtained if the slots had been cut parallel (without phase reversal). of varying the frequency with that of varying the slot length.
Fig. 50 shows the dependence of G/Yo on the inclination of Since the former changes the relative phases of the contributions
770 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS
too 100
——0 "

\ 80

60 / \

Distan reen s ots. 9C 6ctnN

40

20 iAr
'*""••*"•.

92 Gener ator ei id
Q
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
90
Number of slots in array
9
<(>, degrees Fig. 52.—Amplitude distribution and equiphase plot opposite S-band
edge-slot array.
Fig. 51.—Depth of cut vs .inclination of S-band edge slots, ^ in wide.
200° (guide) spacing, for maximum radiation from array of slots (see Fig. 48). at the input end as at the load end. The actual amplitude dis-
* „ = 1 0 7 cm. tribution is only a fair approximation to the intended one;
to the mutual effect at each slot as well as changing the admit- examination of the equiphase distribution about 20 cm away
tance of the slot itself, it is expected (and confirmed in Table 5) from the array showed that the equiphase lines are very nearly
that to produce a given decrease from the maximum value of straight as is required for a good directive pattern from a linear
the power radiated by the array of similar slots, the fractional array. They were inclined at 4-2° to the guide: if the radiation
change in frequency required is about half of the fractional were phased according to the travelling wave in the guide, the
angle would be about 3 • 8°. For many practical purposes, there-
change in slot length.
fore, this method may be adequate.
Table 5 If higher accuracy is required, it seems necessary to prescribe
10° SLOTS the length and inclination of each slot in order to secure the
desired amplitude and phase distributions. A design procedure
Change in
based on approximate theory has been worked out by the author.
radiated power Change in total Change in An approximate design for arrays of inclined slots in the
from the slot length frequency
maximum narrow face, spaced A^/2 apart, with a plunger terminating the
guide can be approached through the conception of incremental
% 0/
conductance which was explained in Section 4.3. The incre-
10 31 l'°5 mental conductance having been found as a function of inclina-
25 4-9 2-2 tion, arrays are then cut according to the law for shunt slots at
resonant spacing without mutual admittance. The terminating
The simplest procedure in designing a broadside array of plunger must be adjusted by trial. While this procedure yields
inclined-shunt slots cut in the narrow face of the guide of a usable arrays with beams radiated normal to the guide, the pro-
longitudinally-polarized array is to make all the slots of the same cedure does not enable the desired input impedance and amplitude
overall length corresponding to maximum radiation in a long distribution to be obtained. Any attempt to improve the design
array of similar slots at the same spacing, equally inclined, but by explicit representation of the mutual effects leads to formid-
alternately reversed in phase. The inclination of the individual able numerical work. The experimental determination of the
slots is then chosen so as to approach the desired amplitude dis- necessary parameters is also difficult. As examples, we may
tribution and to yield a suitable dissipation of power in the load. mention the following measurements.
The guide is assumed to be weakly loaded by each slot so that Suppose that two slots of the same length and inclination are
the phase of each radiator is nearly in constant relation to the cut at half-wave spacing in the guide, first, antiparallel (reversed
phase of the wave in the guide at the position of the slot centre. phase coupling) and second, parallel to each other. Let the
An array constructed according to this plan will not give the input admittances be measured in each case and be denoted by
desired amplitude distribution. Whenever the mutual effect in- Y+ and Y_ respectively. The ratio of the mutual admittance M
creases radiation, one may expect that the waves on the outside to the self-admittance a for slots at the chosen inclination and
of the guide travelling toward the generator have larger amplitude
than those travelling in the opposite direction. spacing is —• Results for f-in slots in standard guide at
+ Yj
An array of 20 slots of the same overall length and 200° a wavelength of 10-7 cm are presented in Tables 6 and 7.
spacing (guide) was cut with inclination varying from 6-3° at the Thus Af/a does not vary much with the depth of cut for a given
input end to 8 • 1J at the other. It was designed to extract 40% fixed inclination of slot. Also Re(M/a), as one should expect,
of the energy in the guide on the assumption that mutual inter- does not vary much with <j> for cf> < 15C. It should be noted,
action could be taken into account by assigning to each slot the however, that if the depth of cut is maintained constant as the
conductance corresponding to the limiting decrement of energy inclination of the slot is increased, the overall length of the slot
per slot in a long array of similar slots. It was found that 45 % is increased sufficiently rapidly to produce considerable change
of the energy was abstracted. The amplitude distribution was in the arguments of M, a and Af/a.
intended to be uniform; the measured distribution is shown by The foregoing is based on the assumption that the mutual
Fig. 52. The hump in the distribution at the input end of the admittance remains unchanged in numerical value when one of
array corresponds with the observation that the wave energy the slots is turned from parallelism to antiparallelism at the
beyond the array on the outside of the guide was twice as much same inclination. This is not strictly true according to field
 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 771

Table 6 the long guide. A Yagi slot at a distance of about one metre
from the exciting slot was backed by a large reflecting copper
15° SLOTS sheet which was adjusted to place a short-circuit at the position
of the Yagi slot, the latter being series-coupled to the waves on
Depth, cm M/a the outside of the guide. The longitudinal slot in the guide
through which the detecting probe explored the standing-wave
1076 0-43e-v48-2° system in front of the Yagi slot was about 30 cm away. The
1-128 0-46e-y52-3° measured series impedance was found to be pure reactance of
1-180 0-44€-y"52-7° magnitude 0 • 364. Taking into account the law of attenuation
of the amplitude of waves propagated outside the narrow face
of the guide (see Section 4.3) the value of the secondary wave
Table 7 amplitude was found to be 0-25e^80°. This result is so much at
TOTAL LENGTH OF SLOTS CONSTANT
variance with our physical expectation as regards phase that we
conclude that the current system on the guide face in this ex-
periment was quite different from that when the Yagi slot was
Inclination near the slot coupled to the guide. It was thought worth while
to mention these results for unless experimental methods of this
type can be satisfactorily developed, the exact design of these
3° 0-29 arrays will have to depend on the mathematical theory alone.
5° 0-27
0-28
15° 0-29 (21) A BROAD-BAND ARRAY OF SLOTS (TRANSVERSE
POLARIZATION)
Because of the mutual interaction between the slots of a
theory representation of the radiation on the outside of the guide, longitudinally-polarized array, and the sensitivity of the interaction
but if the inclination is small enough the error should not be to frequency so that the fraction of energy radiated by the slots
large. is fairly strongly frequency-sensitive, it is clear that the band-
A second measurement intended to estimate how the slots dis- width of these arrays is limited by the loss of energy to the
turb propagation on the outside of the guide was suggested from terminating load. Mutual interaction by waves outside the
theoretical considerations. A slot at zero inclination and there- guide operates to reduce band-width. For a broad-band slot
fore unexcited by the dominant wave inside the guide will be array, it is necessary to use transverse polarization. A method
called a parasitic (or Yagi) slot. If the input admittance of an is now presented for achieving this by means of the displaced
inclined shunt slot is measured alone and then in the presence and inclined slots described in Section 6. The principle involved
of a parasitic slot distant Xg(2, the fractional increase in admit- is that each radiator is so coupled to the guide that it permits a
pure travelling-wave from the generator to the matched termina-
tance will be denoted by MJx; the ratio —-I— yields the tion of the guide, while abstracting a known fraction of the
1
a / a energy from it.
approximate value of the amplitude of the secondary spherical
wave reckoned at the distance X /2, when the exciting wave on The slots have small displacement x and inclination 9 measured
the outside of the guide has unit amplitude at the position of from the unexcited lontitudinal position on the broad face, and
the slot. For example, the following results were obtained for so chosen that the self-corresponding point of the w-plane trans-
12° slots: formed by the slot lies at — j . The length of the slot is such that
M a match is transformed into unit conductance with a small nega-
tive susceptance. The latter is compensated by the positive
susceptance due to the silver probe (of diameter £ in for S-band)
leading to the amplitude of the secondary wave, 0-49e-v'18>2°. placed in the same guide cross-section as the centre of the slot
In order to check this, an attempt was made to measure im- and opposite to it in the other broad face. This disposition is
pedance on the outside of the guide using the device shown in required for proper compensation when a considerable fraction
Fig. 53. A wave was launched on the outside of one end of of energy is drawn from the guide by the end slots of the array.
Design of the array depends on the measurement of (i) the
value of x and 9 to yield the proper type of displaced-inclined
slots (for practical purposes it is sufficient to determine the slot
length for only one value of 9, so that it allows perfect com-
pensation by a probe), (ii) the compensating susceptances and the
g-in.stot for detector Yagi slot corresponding probe lengths, (iii) the fraction of power ab-
stracted by the compensated slot from a travelling wave as a
function of 9, and (iv) the phase shift (retardation) produced in
the travelling wave as it passes the slot, as a function of 9.
At S-band wavelengths, a slot displaced 0-4 in and inclined
at 25° abstracts 40% of the energy from a travelling wave in the
guide; the corresponding phase shift is 14-4° in passing the com-
pensated slot. In an array with its amplitude distribution
tapered symmetrically about its centre most of the radiators will
be required to radiate very much smaller fractions of power than
40%, and will produce a phase shift much less than 14°. There-
fore we may ignore the longitudinal displacement required to
Fig. 53.—Standing-wave-detector intended to measure impedances compensate for the phase shift when we are concerned with
presented to waves on the outside of the guide. amplitude distribution, and choose as the most convenient
 y
z '
,>
0-6
•

7 0-4 0-6

0-4
/ /
-8
To 0-2
^02

a /
1 01
1 t.008
/
/
/
b 01 f /
g.0-06 // //
//
I 004| I 1
(0
\ 1
\1
u.
002 I 1
004 1
1
I
001
i 2 3 4
Retardation, mm.
0 4 8 12 16
002 Retardation, degrees
004 008 012 016 020 01 02 03 04 0-5
Displacement, ins. (c)
Displacement, ins.
5 10 15 20 25 Phase shift produced in travelling wave on passing a slot
2 4 6 8 10 Angle, degrees,and probe length,mm. degrees. mm (Xg - 16-2 cm).
Angle, degrees,and probe length, mm.
(b)
(a)
acement of slot.
nation of slot.
h of compensating probe (0 125 indiam,), including the
l thickness (2 • 1 mm).
Fig. 54.—Design data for broad-band inclined-displaced slot (S-band). Slot dimensions -& in x 2 in.
 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 773
0-6
010

008

006 s
/ s

004 s
s
/
/
/ /
/
002 /
/
/
/
/
/ , .
n
001
/
/
0008
/
// 1

i}
0006 1

0-004

1
1
1
i
0 002
1 1 001
0-75 1-25 175 2-25 275 3-25 375
1 Displacement, mm.
f 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 3b
Angle, degrees
0001 005 0-iO 015 020
0 02 0-4 06 0-8 010 ' 012 014 Probe length, in
Displacement, mm.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Angle, degrees Slot lengths: 10": l-495cm, 20 3 : J-505 cm; 3(V: 1-510 cm.
005 006 007 008 009 010 Oil 012
Probe length, ins.
(a) • —

displacement of slot centre.

inclination of slot centre.
— — — length of compensating probe (0-125 in diam.), including wall thickness
(0-050 in).
02
/
/
I0
' /
<J
L. /' //
Jj 1 /
• 01
"008
7
£
/
11
1
V 1/
a
1
Fig. 55.—Design data for broad-band array of inclined-displaced slots ll
(X-band). ll
ion

ll
V 1
(0
t- 1
i.
002 If
llif
1
if
0-01 M
0-2 0-4 0« 08 10 1-2 14
Retardation, mm.
6 8 10 12 14
Retardation, degrees

Phase shift produced in travelling wave on passing a slot.

degrees; mm.
774 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS
10 variable e (denoting the fraction of energy radiated by the slot)
(i) the displacement x, (ii) the inclination 9, (iii) the length p of
the compensating probe, and (iv) the phase shift converted into
equivalent displacements along the guide at mean frequency in
.6 the band. The data for a wavelength of 10-7 cm in standard

\ / guide are shown in Fig. 54 (a), (b) and (c), and for a wavelength
of 3 • 20 cm in standard guide in Fig. 55 (a), (6) and (c). Item (iv)

i \ X nents y / is used to correct the position of the centres of the slots with
respect to the basic spacing A^/2 calculated for the mean fre-
quency. The correction is cumulative. For a range of fre-
quencies off the centre of the band, the maintenance of a suffi-

X .45 elen tents

ciently good approximation to a travelling wave in the guide is
assured even if the individual slot-probe combination fails to
transform a match into a perfect match off-frequejicy. Further,
provided that the phase shift is taken into account, the beam from
the array should be radiated normal to the guide at the mean
frequency.
"10-3 10-4 10-5 10-6 10-7 10-8 10-9 HO In order to secure the alternation of phase necessary to pro-
Wavelength Aa,cm. duce the beam, normal to the array, the slot centres will be
Fig. 56.—Frequency dependence of power absorbed in terminating alternately staggered on each side of the centre of the broad face
load for 45-element array and for the latter half of it.
of the guide. In order that the proper slot shall be used, the end
variable to characterize a radiator, the fraction of energy to be of the slot nearer to the generator will be nearer to the centre of
radiated by it. The array is then designed with the aid both of the guide in every case. The phase correction is applied by
equation (36) and of graphs in which are plotted against the bringing the slots nearer to the generator.

100

80
\
/ \
"a. (c)
"40

20
1
-4 -2
Degrees
0 -6
V -4 -2 0
V
Degrees
X = 10-50cm; ZT = 1. X 10-70cm; ZT ^ 1.

100

80 /
160 / \
(e)
40 /
20 / \
"-4
s/ - 2 0 2
-2 0 2
Degrees Degrees
X - 10-90cm; Zr = 1. X = l l - 0 c m ; ZT = 1.

Fig. 57.—Radiation patterns for 45-element array of inclined-displaced slots (S-band).

 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 775

100 100

80 80

160 60

I, (f)
40

20 20

-6
Ay -4 -2 0
A -6 -4 -2 0
Degrees Degrees
X = 10-50 cm; Yf — X = 10-70cm; YT = 4 / .

\
100

\
80

60

(i)
40

J IV
20 /

-6 -4 -2 0 -4 -2 0 2
Degrees Degrees
X = 10-81 cm; YT = +y. X = 10-90 cm; YT =

J00

1
I
80

1\
"5- I
/
20

-4
f
-2 0
Degrees
2
K
X = 11 00 cm; YT = +y.

Fig. ST.—Continued.
776 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS
As an example of the application of these principles, a 45- important only for transverse polarization, but it may be sup-
element array was cut for S-band. The slots were -^-'m wide, pressed by introducing a choke between each pair of adjacent
2-in long, with a basic slot spacing of XJ2 at a wavelength of guides. This choke is a narrow channel, a quarter-wave deep,
10-7 cm. The correction for phase shift was taken into account. which prevents waves from travelling from the surface of one
The energy reaching the matching load at the end of the guide guide to the next. Care should be taken to prevent the trans-
was measured as a function of frequency and the result is shown mission line formed by the channel from resonating and thus
in Fig. 56 both for the whole array and for the last half of it. becoming the source of unwanted radiation..
On the assumption that not more than 6% of the energy was In the design of a two-dimensional array, the problem is to
dissipated in the terminating load, this array had a band-width arrange that the linear arrays load the transverse feed-guide so as
of 8% of the operating frequency. It may confidently be pre- to give the desired transverse amplitude and phase distributions
dicted that a longer array would have greater band-width for and a suitable input impedance for the array as a whole. To
satisfactory power absorption. Throughout the band, the achieve this end, the coupling of guides by means of slots offers
voltage standing-wave ratio never exceeded 1 1 2 : 1 . In a wide variety of circuit arrangement. The spacing of the linear
practice, however, it is possible to dispense with the terminating arrays, if transversely-polarized radiation is used, is practically
load and to terminate the guide with a plunger %Ag from the fixed because of the width of the guide, but longitudinally-
centre of the nearest slot. This particular reactive termination polarized arrays may be spaced more closely. If a feed-guide of
may be used because the last few slots of the array transform it specially chosen width is used, or if the guide may be turned so
into a near match, and it is found that the disturbance of phase as not to be perpendicular to the linear radiators, the spacing of
is not serious. It should be noted that transformation by the loads on the transverse feed-guide may be made any desired
these slots reduces the radius of a small circle near the origin figures resonant or not.
on the H'-plane, thus the matching arrangement is essentially
stable. There are two basic types of coupling of shunt-series type that
permit the choice of impedance transfer. For slots cut in the
The results of the Held measurements are shown in Fig. 57 broad face the couplings have already been explained in Fig. 28(o),
(a)-(j). The average observed beam-width of the main lobe was while for slots cut in the narrow face of the feed guide, the ar-
2-35 compared to the theoretical value of 2 1° for a uniformly rangement is depicted in Fig. 34. With both types of coupling,
illuminated array of the same length. When the guide was cor- the system of wave guides forming the whole aerial can easily
rectly terminated in the maximum side-lobe amplitude was 15% be rigidly bound together.
of the maximum in the main lobe, in the wavelength range 10-4- Inclined series-coupling slots in the broad face of the feed
11 -0 cm. When the guide was terminated by a reflecting plug, guide have been used to permit the turning of the component
the maximum side-lobe amplitude varied from 19 • 5 % at 10- 5 cm linear radiators of a longitudinally-polarized cosecant aerial.
to 12% at 10-8 cm and 16% at 11 0cm. The lobe of unwanted The required cut-off in the vertical radiation pattern was obtained
polarization, due mainly to the inclination of the slots, was by mounting the two-dimensional array below (or above) a
observed at ± 45J to the normal to the array and did not exceed plane sheet of metal projecting about 10A in front of the array.
11 % in amplitude. The band-width of this array is sufficiently By turning the linear arrays about their longitudinal axes some
great to allow control of the direction of the beam over four or freedom to adjust the shape of the pattern, was obtained, for
five degrees by variation of the frequency by ± 4%. the degree of coupling to the feed-guide could be varied. An
antenna of this type was constructed at McGill University by
(22) TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARRAYS OF SLOTS Guptill in 1944.
The linear arrays which have been described in the previous
Sections can be used as elements in a two-dimensional array of (23) MICROWAVE YAGI AERIAL
slots, thus replacing the combination of a linear radiator with a In discussing longitudinally-polarized arrays reference has been
reflector. The linear arrays may be either standing-wave or made to the excitation of resonant slots cut in the narrow face
travelling-wave radiators. Mutual effect between them will be when waves travel on the outside of the guide. If the slot is

20
h Elevation
/
t y Ir
031X

o %
n

Plan Width of all slots = l-60mm

Fig. 58.—Microwave Yagi slot aerial (X-band).
 WATSON: RESONANT SLOTS 777
symmetric; ,ily cut in the edge and with its axis perpendicular to (24) REFERENCES
the axis of the guide, it is not excited by the dominant wave in (1) WATSON,W. H.: "Wave Impedances and the Effective Cross-
the guide. Tt may therefore be used as a parasitic radiator on Sections of Antennas," Transactions of the Royal Society
the outside of the guide excited by waves from a single inclined of Canada, Ottawa, Section 3, 1945, p. 33.
slot which is coupled to the guide, and from other parasitic slots (2) WATSON, W. H.: "Matrix Methods in Transmission Line
in the same guide face. and Impedance Calculation," Journal I.E.E., 1946, 93,
An example of this type of aerial was constructed as follows. Part IIIA, p. 737.
An array of slots was cut in each of the narrow faces of a piece
of X-band wave guide. Each array consisted of one 20° inclined ACKNOWLEDGMENT
slot coupled to the guide with a reflecting plunger A /4 behind The investigations were carried out during 1942-4 in a special
it inside the guide, a single parasitic-reflector slot and 15 director- laboratory of the Macdonald Physics Building, McGill University
parasitic slots at 0- 31A spacing. The two arrays were excited in which assisted the work in every way possible. The major
anti-phase and their fields allowed to join in front at the edge of financial support came from the National Research Council of
the wedge in which the guide carrying the slots was terminated. Canada and the facilities of the Field Station of its Radio Branch
The details are shown in Fig. 58. The radiation is polarized were used in field measurements.
parallel to the broad face of the guide. The fundamental work on shunt- and series-coupled slot
The microwave Yagi array has all the advantages of the wire radiators and guide couplings was reported by Mr. E. W.
Yagi arrays for longer waves. These advantages are the small Guptill and the writer. Owing to the impossibility of writing
cross-section presented to the direction of the main lobe, which separate accounts of the original war-time reports in time for the
is approximately axially symmetric, and the extreme portability Radiolocation Convention, the present consolidated report of
and simplicity of the array. In addition it is very easily made. the work at McGill University has been given. The author has
Its directivity is limited, however, by the fact that it is an end-fire much pleasure in acknowledging the collaboration of the other
array. members of the laboratory.