A spectral domain approach for computing the radiation characteristics of a leaky-wave antenna for millimeter waves

Abstract

A new method for evaluating the complex propagation constant <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">\beta</tex> in a leaky-wave structure comprising thin metallic rectangular strips etched on a dielectric rod of rectangular cross section is described. The radiation pattern of the leaky-wave antenna can be determined once <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">\beta</tex> is known, since Re( <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">\beta</tex> ) governs the direction of the main beam and Im( <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">\beta</tex> ) accounts for the beamwidth and aperture efficiency. In addition the knowledge of the dependence of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">\beta</tex> on frequency allows one to design the antenna for frequency-scanning applications. The method employed in this communication is based on the spectral domain approach that formulates the eigenvalue problem in the Fourier transform domain. Computed results are shown to be in very good agreement with experimental measurements.