Spoof surface plasmon polariton‐fed circularly polarized leaky‐wave antenna with suppressed side‐lobe levels

Abstract

A wide-angle scanning circularly polarized (CP) leaky-wave antenna (LWA) with suppressed side-lobe levels (SLLs) is proposed, which can be a good candidate for future radar and wireless communication systems. The LWA consists of 12 cross slotted elliptical patch elements, which are fed by a microstrip spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) line. Two fundamental modes of the patch array with two orthogonal polarizations can be excited by the electromagnetic coupling between the array and the SSPP line. By optimizing the elliptical eccentricity e and etching cross slots on the elliptical patch array, a 90 phase difference is introduced, and then, the CP radiation is realized. A tapered aperture field distribution is also realized by adjusting coupling intensities between the patch elements and the SSPP line, which is beneficial to reduce the SLLs. The electrical size of the LWA is 1.29λ 0 × 6.02λ 0 × 0.08λ 0 , where λ 0 is air wavelength at 12.9 GHz (broadside direction). Both the simulated and measured results indicate that the CP operating band is 12.0 to 15.0 GHz. The proposed CP LWA scans continuously from −14 to 38 . In the whole operating band, the axial ratios are less than 3 dB, and the SLLs are less than −20 dB as well.K E Y W O R D S circular polarization, leaky-wave antenna, low side-lobe levels, spoof surface plasmon polariton

A review of microwave electronically scanned array: Concepts and applications

“…Requirements of modern phased array radar system include multi- function (target search, recognition and tracking at the same time), high resolution, high data rate and working in harsh electromagnetic environment. Therefore, phased array as the main component, have many other characteristics, besides wide scanning angle, wide bandwidth and multi-band, such as sidelobe suppression, 146,147 elimination of scan blindness, 148,149 and multi-polarization. 150,151 In addition, phased array antennas have also been widely used in many commercial fields.…”

Spoof surface plasmon polariton‐based switch using liquid metal

“…30 Since the SPP transmission lines have the advantages of low loss, easy fabrication, etc., various SPP-based microwave devices have been proposed, such as power divider, [31][32][33] frequency splitter, 34 filters, 35,36 couplers, 37 and various forms of antennas and radiators. [38][39][40][41][42][43] Besides, dynamic control of SPP transmission lines is also a research hotspot. [44][45][46][47] In these designs, PIN diodes and some electrical switching devices are selected to achieve dynamic adjustment.…”

“…After that, massive kinds of SPP transmission lines, which consist of different unit structures, have been proposed, including but not limited to H‐shaped structures, 27,28 U‐shaped structures 29 and S‐shaped structures 30 . Since the SPP transmission lines have the advantages of low loss, easy fabrication, etc., various SPP‐based microwave devices have been proposed, such as power divider, 31‐33 frequency splitter, 34 filters, 35,36 couplers, 37 and various forms of antennas and radiators 38‐43 . Besides, dynamic control of SPP transmission lines is also a research hotspot 44‐47 .…”

A tri‐band spoof surface plasmon polaritons based antenna for endfire radiation

“…SSPPs show high‐field confinement in a subwavelength scale and can therefore be used to design high‐density miniaturized circuits. Over the years, they have been used to design antennas, 3‐11 power dividers, 12‐14 transmission lines, 15 and filters 16 …”

“…SSPPs show high-field confinement in a subwavelength scale and can therefore be used to design high-density miniaturized circuits. Over the years, they have been used to design antennas, [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] power dividers, [12][13][14] transmission lines, 15 and filters. 16 Although most antennas designed using SSPPs achieve frequency dependent beam scanning in the broadside direction, some antennas exhibiting endfire radiation patterns have also been designed.…”