Patent ID: 8902012

Claim:
A waveguide circulator, comprising: a plurality of waveguide structures, each waveguide structure in the plurality of waveguide structures including a plurality of waveguide arms extending from a waveguide arm junction, wherein the plurality of arms connect to the waveguide arm junction at a plurality of tapered matching components, wherein each tapered matching component in the plurality of tapered matching components has a narrow taper end that is proximate to the waveguide arm junction and a wide taper end that is distal to waveguide arm junction, wherein the width of the narrow taper end is narrower along an H-plane for the waveguide structure than the wide taper end; and a plurality of ferrite elements, each ferrite element in the plurality of ferrite elements disposed in a respective waveguide arm junction in a respective waveguide structure in the plurality of waveguide structures, the ferrite element having a plurality of segments matching the number of waveguide arms, wherein each segment in the plurality of segments extends through the narrow taper end of an associated tapered matching component in the plurality of tapered matching components and the width of the narrow taper end of the associated tapered matching component is narrower than the wide taper end such that a magnitude of impedance difference between each waveguide arm and the waveguide arm junction containing the ferrite element is reduced, wherein the impedance of the waveguide arm is the impedance of a waveguide that conveys microwave energy to and from the ferrite element.