Circularly polarized beam-scanning antenna with eliminated open-stopband

Abstract

Abstract In the paper, a circularly polarized (CP) frequency beam-scanning antenna based on photonic crystal (PC) is proposed, which possesses the characteristics of eliminating open-stopband (OSB). In the microwave field, the PC is typically constructed by embedding the air or metal column into the material. However, it is difficult for the PC with perfect magnetic conductor walls to accomplish the degeneracy of eigenmodes at the Γ point. Additionally, antennas based on the PC with perfect electric conductor walls exhibit a narrow scanning angle. The proposed unit based on 1D PC possesses perfect electric and magnetic conductor walls. The unit can not only eliminate OSB but also has a wide scanning range. In addition, the unit breaks into the original symmetrical field distributions of 1D PC. Based on the perturbation theory, leaky-wave slots can be designed to generate electromagnetic waves with the CP characteristics. And a CP antenna based on the unit is designed. The antenna can achieve a 70° beam-scanning within the entire operating band (7.6–9.2 GHz), and the variation of the realized gains is below 1.0 dBi around the broadside frequency. Simultaneously, the antenna is fabricated and measured. The measured results are in accordance with the simulation, which validates the success of the design.