Broadband Single-Layered, Single-Sided Flexible Linear-to-Circular Polarizer Using Square Loop Array for S-Band Pico-Satellites

Abstract

Two new flexible, single-sided linear-to-circular polarizers based on the square loop unit cells have been proposed in this work. The first uses a flexible Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate, whereas the second polarizer is implemented on a felt textile substrate. Both polarizers uses the same ShieldIt textile to form their conducting elements. The proposed flexible single-layered structure potentially enables the implementation of the polarizer in a deployable format with improved performance consistency and reduced fabrication complexity for size-and weight-constrained applications such as in pico-satellites payloads. The textile-based design offered an improved performance and is advantageous in terms of weight compared to the PDMS-based polarizer. Besides discussing the operation principles and analyzing its surface currents, an equivalent circuit model is also proposed. Measurements of the textile-based polarizer showed satisfactory agreements with its simulated results, featuring a broad 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth of 33.57 %, operating from 1.71 GHz to 2.4 GHz. The bandwidth with at least 90 % of conversion efficiency for this structure is also improved to 47.3 % (from 1.55 GHz to 2.51 GHz), which is better than any other felt-based flexible polarizers in literature. Finally, the performance of the polarizer in different bending conditions is also assessed, indicating improved performance consistency relative to double-sided flexible polarizers.

Z-Shaped Metasurface-Based Wideband Circularly Polarized Fabry–Pérot Antenna for C-Band Satellite Technology

“…The circular polarization conversion of the Z-shaped MTS unit cell is characterized by the ellipticity ( ), which is calculated by equations ( 4) -(6) [25] - [26], respectively.…”

Multi-band planar diplexers with sub-sets of frequency-contiguous transmission bands

“…see Table I in [3]), where the European Union is playing a major role through different projects promoted by the European Space Agency. In this scenario, the launching of large constellations of lightweight satellite units that may assure ubiquitous coverage will be essential, as fairly attested by the recent “nano/pico-satellite” and “CubeSat” revolution and related markets [4, 5]. On the other hand, due to the current saturation of the electromagnetic spectrum as a very scarce resource, it will be mandatory for these co-integrated 5G-and-beyond/satellite communications systems to operate in various non-contiguous regions of the radio spectrum in order to accommodate their high-data-rate necessities that may reach up to 100 Gb/s [6].…”

T-shaped reflective polarizer under second Bragg incidence

“…The polarizer [1][2][3][4][5] can split the incident light into two mutually orthogonal polarized lights, which plays an important role in the field of terahertz devices [6], infrared telecom [7], information technology [8], information processing [9][10][11], imaging [12][13][14][15], optical storage [16][17][18][19], and polarization detection of light [20][21][22][23]. The conventional polarization separators are usually based on the birefringence of crystal, and the size is generally in the order of millimeter.…”