Nonlinear transmission line-based systems are known. For example, U.S. Patent Applications 2007/0152875A1, 2009/0051468A1, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,319,665, 5,923,227, 7,170,444, and 7,450,059 derive the majority of their nonlinear properties from nonlinear magnetic materials. U.S. patent application 200410227581A1 describes nonlinear transmission lines that derive the majority of their nonlinear behavior from nonlinear dielectrics. Inventions further described by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,023,574, 5,804,921, and 6,538,525 utilize discrete packaged circuit elements, such as varactors, to create the nonlinearity of the nonlinear transmission line.
Prior nonlinear transmission line-based systems derive the majority of their nonlinear properties from nonlinear magnetic materials, nonlinear dielectrics, or utilize different energy extraction methods than those addressed by the present invention and fall short in their ability to extract power from nonlinear transmission lines when compared to the present invention. The present invention can provide advantages over the current state of the art including: power extraction can be performed over the entire length of the nonlinear transmission line instead of just at the nonlinear transmission line output terminals, it does not require the formation of soliton-like oscillations in the nonlinear transmission line to generate RF output from the device, output RF is not limited by the cutoff frequency of the nonlinear transmission line, and output RF pulses can be much longer than the input pulse to the nonlinear transmission line.