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.