High-confinement ultra-wideband bandpass filter using compact folded slotline spoof surface plasmon polaritons

A novel bandpass filter(BPF)based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons(SSPPs)using a compact folded slotline structure is proposed and experimentally demonstrated.The proposed novel SSPPs structure compared with a conventional plasmonic waveguide with slot line SSPPs unit structure at the same size,the considerable advantages in much lower asymptotic frequency with tight field confinement,which enable the proposed filter to be more miniaturization.A high-efficient mode conversion structure is designed to transition from TE-mode to SSPPs-mode by gradient slotline lengths.The low-frequency stop-band can be committed with microstrip to slotline evolution on both sides of the dielectric,while the high-frequency cutoff band is realized by the proposed SSPPs structure.The influence of dispersion relation,electric field distribution,surface current,and structural parameters on the transmission characteristics of the proposed BPF are analyzed by finite difference time domain(FDTD).To validate the design concept,the prototype of the miniaturized SSPPs BPF has been manufactured and measured.The experimental results show high performance of the fabricated sample,in which the working in a range of 0.9 GHz-5.2 GHz with the relative bandwidth is 142%,the insertion loss less than 0.5 dB,the reflection coefficient less than-10 dB,and the group delay is less than one ns.This works provides a mirror for realizing the miniaturization of waveguides,and the application and development of high-confinement SSPPs functional devices in the microwave and THz regimes.

Ultra-wideband surface plasmonic bandpass filter with extremely wide upper-band rejection

An ultra-wideband bandpass filter(BPF)with a wide out-of-band rejection based on a surface plasmonic waveguide(SPW)slotline with ring grooves is designed and analyzed.A paired microstrip-to-slotline transition is designed for quasiTEM to TM mode conversion by using a microstrip line with a circular pad and the slotline with the same circular slot.The mode conversion between the TM and the surface plasmon polariton(SPP)mode is realized by using a gradient slotline with ring grooves and an impedance matching technique.The upper cut-off frequencies of the passband can be adjusted by using these proposed SPP units,while the lower frequencies of the passband are created by using the microstrip-toslotline transitions to give an ultra-wideband BPF.The dispersion curves of SPP units,electric field distribution,and the transmission spectra of the proposed ultra-wideband bandpass filter are all calculated and analyzed by the finite-difference time-domain(FDTD)method.The simulated results show that the presented filter has good performance including a wide3-dB bandwidth of 149%from 0.57 GHz to 3.93 GHz,an extremely wide 40-dB upper-band rejection from 4.2 GHz to18.5 GHz,and low loss and high selectivity in the passband.To prove the design validity,a prototype of the BPF has been manufactured and measured,showing a reasonable agreement with simulation results.The unique features of the proposed BPF may make it applicable for integrated circuit and plasmonic devices in microwave or THz frequency ranges.