Hybrid harmonic source pull tuner system

1. A hybrid harmonic source pull tuner, having an input port and a test port, comprises a cascade of a passive tuning section and an active signal feedforward section;

wherein

the passive tuning section comprises

a slide screw tuner with an input port connected with the input port of the harmonic source pull tuner, an output port connected with the test port of the harmonic source pull tuner, a slabline between the slide screw tuner ports and at least one tuning probe;

and wherein

the active signal feedforward section comprises an amplifier connected in parallel with a cascade of two directional signal couplers, an adjustable signal coupler and a fixed signal coupler, each said signal coupler having an input, an output, a coupled and an isolated port and both being integrated in the slabline of the slide screw tuner;

and wherein

the signal couplers are connected back-to-back, the output port of the adjustable signal coupler being connected to the input port of the fixed signal coupler;

and wherein

an input port of the amplifier is connected to the coupled port of the adjustable signal coupler, wherein said coupled port is located between the at least one tuning probe and the fixed signal coupler, and an output port of the amplifier is connected to the coupled port of the fixed signal coupler, which said coupled port is located next to the output port of the slide screw tuner.

2. The hybrid harmonic source pull tuner of claim 1 ,

wherein

the slide screw tuner comprises:

N≥1 remotely controlled mobile carriage(s), sliding along the slabline, each said mobile carriage including a remotely controlled vertical axis mechanism, on which is attached an associated reflective tuning probe which is insertable into a slot of the slabline.

3. The hybrid harmonic source pull tuner of claim 2 ,

wherein

the adjustable directional signal coupler includes an electro-magnetic coupling loop,

which is remotely movable along and insertable into the slot of the slabline; and wherein

the fixed directional signal coupler includes a fixed electro-magnetic coupling loop inserted into the slot of the slabline.

4. The hybrid harmonic source pull tuner of claim 3 ,

wherein

the electro-magnetic coupling loop of the adjustable directional signal coupler is attached to a remotely controlled vertical axis mechanism of the remotely controlled mobile carriage sliding along the slabline.

5. A calibration method performed using the hybrid harmonic source pull tuner of claim 4 at a frequency Fo and a number of harmonic frequencies N×Fo comprising:

a) connect a pre-calibrated Vector Network Analyzer between the input port and the test port of the hybrid source pull tuner;

b) withdraw all tuning probes and the electro-magnetic coupling loop of the adjustable directional signal coupler from the slabline;

c) measure s-parameters of the hybrid harmonic source pull tuner at all frequencies N×Fo and save in an initialization matrix;

d) in a first control loop:

move the tuning probe, which is closest to the input port of the slide screw tuner, to a multitude of positions along and perpendicular to the slabline, measure s-parameters of the hybrid harmonic source pull tuner and save;

e) withdraw the tuning probe, which is closest to the input port of the slide screw tuner;

f) if N>1:

in a series of N−1 control loops:

move each tuning probe, except the tuning probe of step d), to a multitude of positions along and perpendicular to the slabline, the remaining tuning probes remaining withdrawn, measure s-parameters of the hybrid harmonic source pull tuner at all frequencies N×Fo and save;

g) withdraw all tuning probes from the slabline;

h) in a last control loop

move the electro-magnetic coupling loop of the adjustable directional signal coupler to a multitude of positions along and perpendicular to the slabline, measure s-parameters of the hybrid harmonic source pull tuner at all frequencies N×Fo and save;

i) cascade the s-parameters of steps f) and h) with the invers of the initialization matrix [S0(NFo)] −1 and save;

j) cascade all permutations of s-parameters acquired in steps d) and i) and save in a tuner calibration file.