Properties of a submillimetre mixer in an open structure configuration

Abstract A mixer receiver with a whisker working as longwire antenna in combination with adjustable reflectors has been built for operation in the submillimetre wavelength range. The influence of different parameters such as antenna length, spacing, corner angle of corner reflectors and radius of cylindrical reflectors on the antenna pattern and gain has been investigated in detail. The experimental data show that the whisker can be regarded as a terminated travelling wave antenna. The increase in gain, due to the antenna configuration, is independent of the mixing element whether it be a Schottky diode or a point contact diode, using either Si, GaAs or InSb material. The highest efficiency is obtained with the smallest cylindrical reflector with R = 2.4 λ .