A novel high power X-band ferrite phase shifter.

A novel high power X-band ferrite phase shifter (PS) employing the structure of several waveguides connected in parallel is proposed. Each of the waveguides is a phase shift unit utilizing a dual-toroid structure. First, the phase shift unit is designed, manufactured, and tested. The results indicate that the power capacity reaches 115 kW. At this power, the maximum magnetic field strength of ferrite is 7.9 kA/m, beyond which the nonlinear effect of ferrite will occur. On this basis, the PS that consists of four units connected in parallel is designed. According to the threshold of ferrite, the power capacity of the PS can theoretically reach 430 kW. Limited by the maximum output power of the microwave source, the preliminary high-power test results demonstrate that the PS can operate properly at 270 kW. The PS exhibits an insertion loss of 0.82 dB and a maximum differential phase shift of approximately 300° at 9.3 GHz. The return loss of the PS is more than 16 dB from 9.0 to 9.5 GHz.