What is a Wilkinson Power Divider?

Wilkinson power dividers are usually realized as microstrip or stripline designs. Let’s consider a simple 2-way Wilkinson power divider. Being a lossless reciprocal three-port network, the device inherits the properties that the ports are not simultaneously matched. By placing a resistor between the two output ports high isolation between the output ports is achieved while maintaining a match on all the ports. The resistor does not contribute any resistive loss making an ideal Wilkinson power divider a 100% efficient device. Wilkinson power dividers are broken down in quarter wavelength sections making them appropriate for narrow bandwidth applications. Power handling is limited by the internal resistors power rating.