Summary: | We discuss here under which conditions a periodic line with a twist-symmetric shape can be replaced by an equivalent non-twist symmetric structure having the same dispersive behavior. To this aim, we explain the effect of twist symmetry in terms of coupling among adjacent cells through higher-order waveguide modes. We use several waveguide modes to accurately derive the dispersion diagram of a line through a multimodal transmission matrix. With this method, we can calculate both the phase and attenuation constants of Bloch modes, both in shielded and open structures. In addition, we use the higher symmetry of these structures to further reduce the computational cost by restricting the analysis to a subunit cell of the structure instead of the entire unit cell. We confirm the validity of our analysis by comparing our results with those of a commercial software.
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