Mode conversion and leaky-wave excitation at open-end coupled microstrip discontinuities

The method of moments (MoM) is used to study mode conversion and leaky-wave excitation at an asymmetric coupled-microstrip discontinuity. The results show that significant mode conversion can occur at such discontinuities and that fundamental leaky-wave modes can be excited strongly. Numerical issues with regard to the MoM analysis of such discontinuities are addressed as well, and it is shown that inclusion of a complete-domain basis function for the fundamental leaky mode improves numerical stability dramatically.<>