PROGRESS IN PLANAR DIODE BALANCED DOUBLERS

New developments in higher performance planar diode balanced doublers are reported. These include higher output power, higher efficiency, wider bandwidth, and simpler, more reliable construction. An output power of 80 mW was produced at 140 GHz using a new planar diode array designed to handle very high power. An efficiency of 25% was achieved at 270 GHz with 14 mW output. A wideband doubler has been designed which is extremely simple and easy to assemble, using a new planar diode with on-chip matching. All of these new designs are mechanically improved and should survive cooling to 80K. On those devices where tests have been made, the efficiency at 80 K improves by 30-36% relative to the room temperature value.