Beam-Scanning Performance of Leaky-Wave Slot-Array Antenna on Variable Stub-Loaded Left-Handed Waveguide

Abstract

Metamaterial is an artificial material in which the effective phase constant can be controlled by the internal physical periodic structure of the transmission line. Effective phase constant is designed to be of any value, which may be small, large, approximately zero, or negative, attained by changing the dimensions of the periodic structure. Miniaturization of the antenna and wide design flexibility of radiation patterns can be expected from the use of metamaterials. In this work, we developed a leaky-wave slot-array antenna on a variable stub-loaded left-handed waveguide. The radiation pattern of the fabricated antenna was measured and the characteristics of the left-handed transmission line were observed. Moreover, performance of beam-scanning by changing the length of the stubs on the waveguide was confirmed experimentally.