Partially reflecting sheet arrays

Abstract

Multiple reflections of electromagnetic waves between two planes are studied, and the increase in directivity that results by placing a partially reflecting sheet in front of an antenna with a reflecting screen is investigated at a wavelength of 3.2 cm. The construction and performance of various models of such arrays is discussed. Thus, for example, a "reflex-cavity antenna" with an outer diameter of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1.88 \lambda</tex> and an over-all length of only <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.65 \lambda</tex> is described which has half-power beamwidths of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">34\deg</tex> and <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">41\deg</tex> in the <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">E</tex> and <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">H</tex> planes, respectively, and a gain of approximately 14 db. It is shown that larger systems produce considerably greater directivity but that their efficiency is poor.