Figure 1

Open-ended T-junction as an impedance diagnostic for droplets in motion. (a) Implementation of an open-ended T-junction as an impedance diagnostic for liquid metal jetting. (b) The T-junction as a power divider, where port 1 is the input port and ports 2 and 3 are the output ports and are impedance matched. (c) Transmission line model of a lossless T-junction. The stored energy associated with the discontinuity of the junction is accounted for with susceptance B. (d) Analytical results for the return loss S₁₁ when ports are terminated with a matched impedance and open air. (e) Analytical variation in S₁₁ at f = 30 GHz [marked in (d)] for different droplet impedances. Note that symmetry is inherent in the T-junction and therefore only half of the T-junction length is shown.