Broadband Polarization-Conversion Metasurface for a Cassegrain Antenna with High Polarization Purity

Polarization conversion has been widely explored in the study of metasurfaces in order to achieve broad operation bandwidths, but its application is still restricted to a few practical scenarios. We design a broad-band cross-polarization conversion metasurface and apply it to form a directionally radiated Cassegrain antenna with a low profile and high polarization purity. A quasi-I-shaped meta-atom is first optimized with both high cross-polarization conversion efficiency and a full span of phase modulation in a broad bandwidth. With a hyperbolic phase profile imposed on the surface, a metasurface is engineered that can conduct both focusing and polarization conversion into its cross-polarization component. Then, by introducing a polarized grating as a subreflector and simultaneously fixing the designed metasurface as the main reflector, a planar Cassegrain antenna is facilitated with a low profile, high gain, and high polarization purity in a broad frequency band. This strategy of broad-band polarization conversion and its attempt to design a Cassegrain antenna lays a foundation for high-performance functional devices, promising great potential in real-world applications.