3D printed millimeter wave receiver integrating a graphene subharmonic mixer and a diagonal horn antenna

Abstract

This work presents a millimeter/submillimeter wave frequency receiver integrating a graphene subharmonic mixer and a diagonal horn antenna. The device receives the RF signal through the diagonal horn antenna directly connected to the WR-3 input of the mixer. The desired frequency mixing performance is obtained using the non-linear behavior of a few-layer graphene film placed on a microstrip line gap. Using the internally generated 6th, 8th and 10th harmonic components of the input signal provided by the WR-28 standard waveguide in the 26-40 GHz the downconversion operation of the RF signal to a 300 MHz intermediate frequency is performed. A prototype of the receiver has been manufactured using high precision 3D printing technology. The performance of this device is characterized taking into account the behavior of the IF power in the 220-330 GHz band. Measured radiation patterns are also included.