3-D Printing of High-Performance Feed Horns From Ku- to V-Bands

In this letter, the design and the three-dimensional (3-D) printing of high-performance feed horns operating within Ku- and V-bands are presented. A smooth-wall architecture has been preferred in order to ease the manufacturing and to enhance the 3-D printing quality. A suitable design procedure has been developed for the synthesis of dual-band smooth-wall feeds. Single-band and dual-band all-metal prototypes have been manufactured through the selective laser melting technology. A remarkable agreement between the predicted and measured performances has been achieved also for the higher frequency Q/V-band feed horn with measured return-loss higher than 33 dB, cross-polarization lower than -28 dB, and peak gain of 25 dBi.