Miniaturized fractal rat-race, branch-line, and coupled-line hybrids

In this paper, space-filling curves have been used to realize a family of miniaturized hybrids. The large surface area occupied by a conventional structure has been significantly reduced through the use of space-filling curves having the same electrical characteristics. Several space-filling curves have been studied and implemented in different designs. The second-iteration Moore rat-race coupler occupies only 12.6% of the conventional coupler´s area, while the area of the second-iteration Sierpinski branch-line coupler is 24.7% of the conventional case. On the other hand, a nine-section Minkowski coupled-line balun is confined in 60% of the conventional balun´s area. However, the effective size reduction depends on the used space-filling curve, compression ratio, and associated coupling between segments. The performance of the proposed space-filling hybrids is as good as that of the corresponding conventional structures, and even better in some cases. The design and simulation of the proposed space-filling hybrids have been performed using a moment-method-based full-wave electromagnetic simulator. Measurements of one fabricated coupler prototype are in good agreement with simulation results.