Modeling, Design and Experimental Characterization of the Q-band OMTs and Polarizers for the STRIP-LSPE Balloon Experiment

This paper reports on the Q-band polarizers and ortho-mode transducers developed for the STRatospheric Italian Polarimeter (STRIP) coherent multi-feed instrument. A split-block design of groove polarizers and an ad-hoc assembly procedure have been conceived in order to achieve recurring high-performance for all the 49 polarizers (i.e., cross-polarization < -35 dB, return-loss > 36 dB, insertion-loss < 0.07 dB). The ortho-mode transducers are based on a novel multi-layer turnstile-junction design. This configuration has been conceived toward a high parallelization rate of the manufacturing process, while providing high electromagnetic performance (cross-coupling < -50 dB, isolation > 50 dB).