Ultra-Thin Flexible Power Divider Based on SSPP for B5G Radio Stripe Networks

This paper reports a flexible and ultra-thin power divider using spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPP) technology. It is designed by incorporating a novel Y-shaped SSPP unit cell. The reported unit cell exhibits superior field confinement, attributed to its lower asymptotic frequency, contrasting with the rectangular unit cell. Two 200-ohm resistors are used to achieve isolation. The proposed power divider is fabricated and tested over flat and curved surfaces of cement brick, and wood. The power divider has -10 dB bandwidth in frequency ranges from 1.8 to 8.8 GHz along with good isolation and matching at all ports. The proposed power divider has a wide fractional bandwidth (FBW) percentage value of 132. Owing to its flexible nature, ultra-thin profile and operating frequency range, the proposed power divider is suitable for beyond fifth-generation radio stripe network applications.