Surface Plasmon Polariton Leaky-Wave Antennas With Wideband Arbitrary Multibeam Radiation

A simple method to synthesize multibeam radiation patterns with modulated linear spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) leaky-wave antennas (LWAs) is proposed. We analytically proved that, for this specific type of LWA, the superposition of modulated antenna shapes can lead to a direct superposition in its radiation pattern. To validate this method, several simulations are performed, and two antennas are fabricated and tested. These results show that various types of radiation pattern, e.g., single-beam, dual-beam, or multibeam at various directions, can he achieved with little need for design efforts. The proposed antennas have features of the highly diverse radiation pattern, high gain (up to similar to 14.6 dBi, measured), wideband, large frequency scanning capability (similar to 120 degrees with ignorable open stophand effect at broadside), and have very simple structures that are easy to design and fabricate.

Automated summary

A simple method for synthesizing multibeam radiation patterns using modulated linear spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) leaky-wave antennas is proposed. The method has been validated through simulations and experiments, showing the ability to achieve various types of radiation patterns with high gain, wideband, and large frequency scanning capability.