IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL.

4, 2005

365

Very Low-Prole Bulls Eye Feeder Antenna

M. Beruete, I. Campillo, J. S. Dolado, J. E. Rodrguez-Seco, E. Perea, F. Falcone, and M. Sorolla, Senior Member, IEEE

AbstractIn this letter, a very low-prole planar horn antenna is proposed. It consists of a subwavelength aperture placed into a Bulls Eye concentric periodic corrugated conducting plate that produces good return losses and a narrow radiated beam. The antenna is excited by means of a waveguide whose ange has been properly mechanized in the rear part of the structure. The mechanism explaining this phenomenon is similar to the enhanced transmission observed at optical wavelengths in similar structures. In this work, the circularly corrugated structure has been scaled into the microwave frequency range and, moreover, the plane wave excitation has been replaced by a subwavelength aperture excited by a conventional closed metallic waveguide. This transforms the original focusing structure into a new concept of a very low-prole feeder with potential applications. Index TermsBull eye, concentric periodic corrugated plate, metamaterials, subwavelength aperture, very low-prole feeder.

I. INTRODUCTION

HE very promising results, reported at optical wavelengths, of enhanced transmission phenomena through subwavelength apertures in corrugated metallic lms and in hole arrays have stimulated the interest in this emergent research topic [1][3]. For the case of optical wavelengths, one-dimensional arrays of very narrow slits have been theoretically analyzed and two types of transmission resonances were predicted [4], [5], coupled surface plasmon polariton (SPP) resonances and slit waveguide modes. Corrugated planes are well known for antenna engineers, but it has been recently demonstrated that the enhanced optical transmission phenomenon can be fully described by means of the excitation of a leaky mode, being in this case a leaky plasmon mode [6], [7]. This leaky mode enhances the aperture eld at the entrance face, and also creates a narrow-beam pattern at the output region. By using reciprocity principle, it is shown that the two enhancement effects are equal. Leaky-wave antennas are described in [8]. A microwave scaled version of these experiments can drive to new potential applications. Some recent experiments related with the measurement of transmission through a single slit surrounded with one groove at each side has been reported in [9] whereas the case of a bigger number of corrugations is presented

Fig. 1. (a) Front view of the Bulls Eye antenna. (b) Cross section representation with its relevant parameters h = 12 mm, a = 11:54 mm, d = 17 mm, l = 10 mm, w = 3:4 mm, the small dimension of the slit is b = 2 mm.

in [10]. Subwavelength hole arrays have been analyzed in [11] and measured, see [12]. Recently, it has been demonstrated the same effect for the case of a hole surrounded by circular concentric corrugations acting in a lens-like mode at microwave wavelengths [13]. However, in this letter, we present a further step of these concepts that opens potential applications for very low-prole feeder antennas. These structures can be considered as a kind of metamaterial where enhanced transmission and beaming has been very recently proposed [14]. II. MODELING THE ANTENNA The Bulls Eye antenna is shown in Fig. 1 [15]. The fundamentals of this structure are given in [3][7]. The design proposed in this letter is similar, but there are two remarkable differences: the present structure is fed by means of a standard waveguide instead of the plane wave excitation given there; and the central hole is replaced by a narrow slit, which results in a more efcient power coupling. , determines the longitudinal The depth of the slit, resonant frequency of the antenna near 16 GHz. Note that a lower resonance, not used in this design, appears at 12.5 GHz and it is determined by the slit width. These resonances are more complex than those of a half-wavelength resonator.

Manuscript received October 26, 2004; revised April 27, 2005. This work was supported by CICYT and EU-FEDER by Project Contracts TIC2002-04528C02-01 and TIC2002-04528-C02-02. M. Beruete, F. Falcone, and M. Sorolla are with the Departamento de Ingeniera Ectrica y Electrnica, Universidad Pblica de Navarra, Campus Arrosada, E-31006 Pamplona, Spain. I. Campillo, J. S. Dolado, J. E. Rodrguez-Seco, and E. Perea are with Labein Centro Tecnolgico, 48160 Derio (Bizkaia), Spain. Digital Object Identier 10.1109/LAWP.2005.851104

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IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 4, 2005

Fig. 2. Magnitude of the electric eld in resonance across the central slit. It is working as a FabryPerot cavity in its fundamental resonance.

In order to gain insight on these structures, the Finite Integration Time Domain CST Microwave Studio code has been employed and the electric eld density has been obtained, which conrms the expected resonance, see Fig. 2. Similarly, by using the above mentioned simulation tool, the far-eld radiation pattern can be evaluated for a slit placed in both at conductor plate and the corrugated one at the desired operating frequency of 16 GHz. For a narrow slit on a at plane the power coupled across the aperture is nearly isotropically radiated, see radiation pattern of Fig. 3(a). From the current distribution displayed on the top left of Fig. 3(a), concentric rings drilled around the central slit were considered a good geometrical choice in order to improve the directivity of the single slit. These corrugations change the eld pattern spectacularly [Fig. 3(b)]. The number of corrugation periods has an important inuence as one increases its number from zero until a saturation value above which no big improvement can be expected and the antenna size increases too much. The coherent re-radiation of power produces a narrow beam in the normal direction. This happens for grooves designed with . The value is not exactly a depth as appeared in [4] because resonance is somewhat more complex than a Fabry-Perot cavity [4]. The distance between , and the width of every groove, grooves, , controls the angle where constructive interference takes place. Comparing the gain with grooves and with a at plane, the radiation enhancement achieved is of 15 dB, see Fig. 3. bandCST Microwave Studio simulation predicts a width of near 2 GHz and an efciency of 90%. III. EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENTS The simulation results above have been tested with the experimental response of a Bulls Eye antenna prototype shown schematically in Fig. 1. It was constructed by numerical control machining. By means of an antenna test range and an HP 8510C Vector Network Analyzer (45 MHz26 GHz), the far-eld radiation pattern of this structure has been measured in the frequency range from 10 to 18 GHz. In this frequency range the slit-aperture to wavelength ratio is around 0.1.

Fig. 3. (a) Surface current distribution on the at surface (left) and far-eld pattern (right). E-cutting plane (solid line) and H-cutting plane (dashed line). (b) Same for the Bull-Eye antenna.

A test horn antenna was located opposite to the Bulls Eye at a distance of 2 m. Both antennas were placed 1.5 m above the oor, and this oor room was properly covered with absorbing material, which avoids the interference of reected rays. The prototype under test was located on a rotary platform to measure its far-eld radiation pattern, see Fig. 4. The experimental reection coefcient is shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen that the measured second resonance is deeper than the simulation prediction and is shifted toward higher frequencies due to mechanical tolerances. The experimental gain of the antenna within the considered spectrum has been measured using the substitution method [16]. The measured antenna gain, compared with a standard horn antenna, as a function of the frequency is presented in Fig. 6. It presents a maximum around the design frequency which tops 21 dB. Far-eld radiation patterns were also measured at the resonant frequency in the angular range from 0 to 120 , see Fig. 7, where the values are normalized to the maximum power. There is evidence of the strong beaming obtained for the E-plane and the low cross-polarization level, more than 30 dB. A narrow angular width of 6 is measured. The side . For the H-plane the crosslobe level is better than polarization level is near 25 dB.

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Fig. 6. Measured gain versus frequency. Solid line: Bull-Eye antenna. Dashed line: EMCO 3115 Standard horn antenna.

Fig. 4.

Experimental setup for Bull-Eye antenna measurement.

Fig. 5. Reection coefcient of the Bull-Eye antennas versus frequency. Solid line: Simulation result. Dashed line: Measurement. Note that the antenna under test has been connected to port 2.

IV. DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS In the S-parameter response of Fig. 5, two resonances can be identied both in the simulation and in the measurement. The one located around 16 GHz is explained in [4], and corresponds with a longitudinal slit resonance. The one around 13 GHz is related with the transversal width of the slit. This resonance can be also used in the same way to design an antenna, with the advantage of allowing a low thickness metal plate. This last point will be treated in detail in a subsequent paper. The antenna bandwidth around the 16 GHz operating frequency is even larger than the predicted by the CST Microwave Studio simulation, the resonance is shifted toward higher frequencies and is about 10 dB deeper. In Fig. 6 it is seen that for both frequencies there is a peak of the gain, in agreement with the two abovementioned slit resonances. Since the grooves are optimized to resonate and re-radiate coherently at 16 GHz, it is around this frequency where the maximum gain is measured. It is worth noting that measurement gives a higher gain level than simulation, with

Fig. 7. Measured far-eld patterns for (a) E-cutting plane and (b) H-cutting plane.

a maximum of 21 dB instead of the predicted 18 dB shown in the polar axis of Fig. 3(b). Note that in the experiment the

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IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 4, 2005

maximum gain occurs at 16.5 GHz, the frequency of maximum experimental resonance. It seems that the tolerances due to the fabrication process work together shifting and intensifying the resonance which turns out in a higher gain. In Fig. 7 a strong E-plane measured beaming can be seen whereas for the H-plane a less directive beam is achieved. This can be explained by considering the surface current distribution of Fig. 3(b), where the current density is higher in vertical direction that corresponds to E-plane.

V. CONCLUSION A zero-prole antenna with high gain and strong and narrow beaming has been designed and measured. Taking previous works in optics as reference, a new waveguide feeding technique has been successfully implemented for the Bulls Eye corrugated structure, resulting in a very efcient power coupling through the subwavelength slit. Measurements of the gain versus frequency conrm the enhancement achieved with in-phase radiation of concentric periodic grooves. Angular distribution measurements show an extraordinary beaming with an angular width of 6 . Side lobes are obtained with this structure and the lower than cross-polarization level is maintained at reasonable levels. An. tenna return losses are under Our results open a way to the design of at antennas based on small apertures surrounded with grooves, in contrast with high prole horn antennas and big leaky wave antennas. More research is necessary to improve the antenna performance. The possibility of applications in other devices as frequency selective surfaces, microwave lenses, and horn lens antennas is opened.

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