Patent ID: 7400215

Claim:
A power combiner apparatus, comprising: a waveguide enclosure defined on an input side by an input waveguide section supporting an input field, and on an output side by an output waveguide section supporting an output field; and an array of slotline modules disposed within the waveguide enclosure between the input waveguide section and the output waveguide section along an H-direction defined as a direction perpendicular to both a direction of propagation and a direction of an electric field in a fundamental mode supported by the waveguide enclosure, each of the slotline modules in the array of slotline modules including a circuit element having an input portion and an output portion, an input slotline antenna disposed between the input waveguide section and the input portion of the circuit element, and an output slotline antenna disposed between the output waveguide section and the output portion of the circuit element; wherein different slotline modules within the array of slotline modules are configured to have varying characteristics according to a position in the H-direction of each slotline module in the array of slotline modules within the waveguide enclosure to cause a signal amplitude balance among the slotline modules to substantially follow a specified amplitude contour.