Wideband High-Efficiency Fresnel Zone Plate Reflector Antennas Using Compact Subwavelength Dual-Dipole Unit Cells

Abstract

In this paper, wideband high-efficiency Fresnel zone plate (FZP) reflector antennas are investigated and developed. Two simple dual-dipole unit cells with different periodicity sizes are first characterized for the design of Fresnel zone plate reflector antennas. The gain bandwidth of the FZP reflector antennas is then theoretically investigated using the two unit cells. Based on the results, a wideband high-efficiency FZP reflector containing 15 correcting zones is designed using the unit cell with a smaller size and quarter-wavelength correction phases. A standard pyramidal horn and a slotfed patch antenna are applied to feed the FZP reflector alternately. With a feed horn, the wideband high-efficiency radiation performance including a peak gain of 32.1 dBi and an aperture efficiency of 58.2% can be achieved. By using the designed planar feeder, a compact FZP reflector antenna can be obtained with compromised radiation performance. All are demonstrated by experiments.