Micromachined 300 GHz high Q resonant slot frequency selective surface filter

The design of a low loss quasi-optical beam splitter which is required to provide efficient diplexing of the bands 316.5-325.5 GHz and 349.5-358.5 GHz is presented. To minimise the filter insertion loss, the chosen architecture is a three-layer freestanding array of dipole slot elements. Floquet modal analysis and finite element method computer models are used to establish the geometry of the periodic structure and to predict its spectral response. Two different micromachining approaches have been employed to fabricate close packed arrays of 460 mum long elements in the screens that form the basic building block of the 30 mm diameter multilayer frequency selective surface. Comparisons between simulated and measured transmission coefficients for the individual dichroic surfaces are used to determine the accuracy of the computer models and to confirm the suitability of the fabrication methods.