Broadband Dual-Polarized Single-Layer Reflectarray Antenna With Independently Controllable 1-Bit Dual Beams

• Published in: IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation Vol. 69; no. 6; pp. 3294 - 3302
• Main Authors: Yin, Jiexi, Lou, Qun, Wang, Haiming, Chen, Zhi Ning, Hong, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.06.2021; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Antenna arrays; Antennas; Bandwidth; Bandwidths; Broadband; Broadband antennas; Broadband communication; Broadband unit cell; Compensation; dual linear polarizations; Dual polarization (waves); Incident waves; independent control; Linear polarization; Magnetic resonance; Millimeter wave communication; millimeter-wave (mmWave); Periodic structures; Phase shift; reflectarrays; Stability; Substrates; Unit cell; Vertical polarization
• ISSN: 0018-926X; 1558-2221
• DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2020.3037686

An independently controllable dual-beam reflectarray antenna is presented using a broadband dual-polarized single-layer 1 bit unit cell. The unit cell independently provides two-state phase compensation for two orthogonally linearly polarized waves. The 180° reflective phase difference between the two states is achieved by tuning the magnetic resonance of State 0 and the electrical resonance of State 1. With its two resonances close to each other, the unit cell has a reflective phase difference of 180° ± 20° between two states over a broad bandwidth of 27.2-51.1 GHz. The cross-polarization levels of below −30 dB ensure the high isolation between two polarizations. Using the proposed unit cell, a fixed dual-beam reflectarray antenna is designed and excited by a dual-polarized horn to show the ability of independently controlling two orthogonally linearly polarized waves. At 33 GHz, the beams direct to 20° and −15° for the feeding of horizontally and vertically polarized ports, respectively. The 1.5 dB gain bandwidth is greater than 20% for both polarizations. The proposed dual-polarized reflectarray antenna proves that, for two orthogonally linearly polarized incident waves, the independently controllable fixed dual beams can be realized using the 1 bit phase compensation and single-layer structure.