volume | PIER Journals

2016-11-29

On the Possibility of a Perfect Power Combiner

Sailing He,

Prof. Sailing He

Department of Electromagnetic Theory

Royal Institute of Technology

Sweden

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Kexin Liu

Dr. Kexin Liu

State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation

Zhejiang University

China

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Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 158, 1-6, 2017

doi:10.2528/PIER16092302

Abstract

By reductio ad absurdum, we show that a perfect power combiner of single-mode waveguides is impossible for incoherent input waves of the same frequency and same polarization as it is against the law of conservation of energy. The inevitable 3 dB loss of a three-port power combiner is explained physically. An incoherent power combiner of nearly 100% efficiency can be realized only if the two input fields have different wavelengths, have different polarizations, or are of orthogonal modes.

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Sailing He, and Kexin Liu, "On the Possibility of a Perfect Power Combiner," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 158, 1-6, 2017.
doi:10.2528/PIER16092302

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