A technique for measuring the dispersion characteristics in slow-wave circuits containing materials with nonreciprocal RF properties

A traveling wave technique to measure the dispersion charateristics of slow-wave circuits is described which uses a sensitive phase measurement system and negates the requirment for shorting the circuit under test. Because of the elimination of the short and because the sensitivity of the measurement does not require strong coupling to the circuit fields, errors due to the creation of spurious modes are minimized. Comparison of wavelength measurements using this system with those of previous techniques show excellent agreement.