Dirac leaky wave antenna for millimetre‐wave applications

Abstract

Dirac dispersion cones enable remarkable wave phenomena in electronics as well as electromagnetic systems. In this work, the authors experimentally demonstrate for the first time the Dirac leaky wave antennas (DLWAs) at millimetre‐wave (mm‐wave) frequencies. The demonstrated DLWAs are implemented in the substrate integrated waveguide technology, delivering unprecedented features at high frequencies such as radiation at, and continuous beam scanning through broadside, with ease of fabrication, making these designs well suited for mm‐wave applications such as emerging fifth generation and Internet of Things, radar and imaging. It is shown that a planar Dirac photonic crystal can be realised composed of air columns inside a host SIW waveguide, exhibiting a closed bandgap and linear dispersion around broadside. Phase and attenuation constants are controlled to obtain directive beam and scanning in a wide range of angles (from −30° to 20°). The presented DLWAs have a wide impedance bandwidth around 28 GHz with high efficiency, and operate with peak gains of about 16 dBi with <1 dB gain variation throughout the frequency range from 25 to 31 GHz. Several designs have been proposed, and their prototypes were fabricated using standard substrates. Measured results show excellent agreement with the simulated results, validating the proposed concepts.

A 6–12 GHz wideband low‐noise amplifier GaAs FET design with 0.8‐dB average NF and 25‐dB gain

“…Communication systems that are widely used in space systems generally contain two network parts, 1,2 as indicated in Figure 1A. Slave terminals (SSTs) are transceivers that consist of a transmitter (Tx) and a receiver (Rx) and are typically used to broadcast audio, video, or data 2,3 to the master across communication channels (Figure 1B).…”

“…Communication systems that are widely used in space systems generally contain two network parts, 1,2 as indicated in Figure 1A. Slave terminals (SSTs) are transceivers that consist of a transmitter (Tx) and a receiver (Rx) and are typically used to broadcast audio, video, or data 2,3 to the master across communication channels (Figure 1B). Receivers in communication systems are responsible for demodulating and processing transmitted radio frequency signal information, 3,4 as well as providing a low-noise figure (NF) and enough amplification for signal reconstruction.…”

High Gain Periodic 2-D Leaky-Wave Antenna With Backward Radiation for Millimeter-Wave Band

“…This high performance, however, is achieved by making the antenna very lengthy (76 λ 0 ). SIW was utilized in [11], [12], and [13] to propose different leaky-wave antennas. All of these antennas work in mm-Wave band and achieve 10.8 dBi, 16.5 dBi, and 16.2 dBi gain, respectively.…”

Parallel‐plates‐based Dirac Leaky Wave Antennas

“…In Ref. [16], three DLWAs at mm-wave frequencies were demonstrated based on Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) technology with high radiation efficiencies that can be simply scaled to higher millimetre-wave frequencies [16]. Furthermore, due to the closed bandgap, a 2D DLWA with circular polarisation radiation and an excellent axial ratio was shown in Ref.…”

“…Also, limited accuracy in fabrication of through holes of designs as in Ref. [16] can lead to deviations in measured results compared to the ideal design. To avoid these dilemmas, 1D and 2D DLWA solutions are needed that are ideal for planar fabrication.…”