Chiral and dual polarization techniques for an ultra-wide band communication system provide an ultra-wide band signal having signal components in two dimensions. The polarization techniques utilize two signal paths to excite a pair of linear, orthogonal antennas. The pulses transmitted along one signal path are delayed with respect to the pulses transmitted along the second signal path such that one antenna is excited with a pulse that is out of phase with respect to the pulse that is exciting the other antenna. With chiral polarization, one signal is delayed in time by an amount such that it reaches a maximum when the other signal is at an adjacent minimum. With dual polarization, one signal is delayed by more than a pulse width. Because the signal is split and transmitted using two orthogonal, linear antennas, the transmitted signal has an electric field component in two dimensions. Because the signal in one signal path is delayed, the transmitted signal, the transmitted signal appears to rotate about the axis of propagation in the right-hand or left-hand direction (depending on the orientation of the antennas relative to one another and on which signal path is delayed). Because chiral and dual polarized signals have signal components in two dimensions, they can be received by receiver systems using either a single linear antenna, or a pair of orthogonal, linear antennas.