Lenses for Circular Polarization Using Planar Arrays of Rotated Passive Elements

Abstract

A planar array of passive lens elements can be phased to approximate the effect of a curved dielectric lens. The rotational orientation of each element can provide the required phase shift for circular polarization. The array elements must be designed so that the hand of circular polarization changes as the electromagnetic wave passes through the lens. An element is presented that is based on an aperture-coupled microstrip patch antenna, and two lenses are designed. Each lens has a diameter of 254 mm and contains 349 elements. The elements have identical dimensions but the rotational orientation of each element is selected to provide a specific lens function. The first lens is designed to collimate radiation from a feed horn into a beam pointing 20 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">°</sup> from broadside. At 12.9 GHz the aperture efficiency is 48%. The second lens acts as a Wollaston-type prism. It splits an incident wave according to its circular polarization components.