A traveling wave detector and method of traveling wave signal detection employ a plurality of detector diodes connected according to different polarities with respect to adjacent ones of the detector diodes. The traveling wave detector includes a transmission line having an input end and a terminal end and the plurality of detector diodes connected as stated above and spaced apart along the transmission line. The traveling wave detector further includes a plurality of direct current (DC) blocks to define a series conduction path. The method of traveling wave signal detection includes rectifying a received incident signal using the traveling wave detector to produce a video signal at each of the detector diodes and summing the video signals along the series conduction path to produce an output video signal.