Dielectric waveguide phase shifter

A phase shifter comprising:

• a ferrimagnetic toroid;
• at least one dielectric waveguide disposed within said ferrimagnetic toroid comprising:
• dielectric means, including a dielectric member, for confining an electromagnetic wave fed to the member substantially to the member, and for producing a small predetermined amount of wave leakage from the member into adjacent portions of the toroid, said dielectric member having a dielectric constant of about 50 with respect to the dielectric constant of air and having a cross-sectional dimension in the range of 0.25 to 0.6 of the free space wavelength of said electromagnetic wave divided by the square root of the dielectric constant of said member;
• wherein said electromagnetic wave propagating along the member is confined to said member solely by the dielectric member and dielectric media including said ferrimagnetic toroid surrounding said member;
• and
• means for directing a current through a region confined by said ferrimagnetic toroid to provide a magnetization in said ferrimagnetic toroid and to interact with said wave leakage to control the phase of the electromagnetic wave.

In combination:

• a pair of sheets each comprising a ferrimagnetic material;
• a pair of longitudinal members each comprising a ferrimagnetic material disposed between a pair of opposing facial surface portions of said sheets, said pair of sheets and pair of longitudinal members arranged to provide a toroidal member;
• and
• a plurality of dielectrics spaced apart one from the other and disposed between the pair of longitudinal members and the ferrimagnetic sheets, said dielectrics each having a dielectric constant selected to confine substantially to said dielectric an electromagnetic signal fed to said dielectric as said signal propagates along said dielectric.

An array comprising:

• (a) a plurality of elements, each element comprising:
• (i) means for providing a closed magnetization path;
• (ii) means including said closed path means and a plurality of dielectrics disposed within said closed path means for guiding a plurality of electromagnetic waves along such plurality of dielectrics;
• and
• (b) means for independently controlling the phase shift of the plurality of electromagnetic waves in each one of such elements.

A phase shifter comprising:

• (a) a ferrite material disposed about a region;
• (b) dielectric means, including a dielectric member disposed within said region, for confining electromagnetic wave energy fed to the means substantially to the dielectric member as such energy passes through the dielectric member with a minor portion of said energy leaking into the ferrite material and with said electromagnetic wave energy being confined to said member solely by the dielectric member and dielectric media including said ferrite material surrounding said member, with said dielectric member having a dielectric constant of about 50 with respect to the dielectric constant of air and having a cross-sectional dimension in the range of 0.25 to 0.6 of the free space wavelength of said electromagnetic wave divided by the square root of the dielectric constant of said member;
• and
• (c) means, including said energy leaking into the ferrite material for providing a predetermined phase shift to the propagating energy as it passes through the dielectric member.

An array comprising:

• means for providing a plurality of closed, substantially independent magnetization paths, each path further comprising:
• (i) means, including a plurality of dielectric members disposed within said path, for confining substantially to said dielectric members, a corresponding plurality of electromagnetic signals fed to said dielectric members;
• (ii) means, including said magnetization path for providing a selectable phase shift to the electromagnetic signals fed to said dielectric members;
• and
• wherein the phase shift provided to signals in each one of said closed paths is substantially independent from the phase shift provided to signals in remaining ones of said paths.