Design and Measurement of a 220 GHz Wideband 3-D Printed Dielectric Reflectarray

TLDR

A wideband high‑gain terahertz dielectric reflectarray operating at 220 GHz is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The reflectarray consists of a ground plane and a dielectric block whose height controls the reflection phase; a 40 × 40 array was designed with a computational phase algorithm and fabricated using 3‑D printing, then characterized with THz time‑domain spectroscopy. The fabricated array achieved a maximum gain of 31.3 dBi with a 20.9 % bandwidth, and measurements matched simulations, demonstrating a significant advance toward 3‑D printed THz dielectric reflectarrays above 220 GHz.

Abstract

A wideband high-gain terahertz dielectric reflectarray working at 220 GHz is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The reflectarray unit cell consists of a ground plane and a dielectric block. The reflection phase is obtained by adjusting the height of the block. Using the reflection phase computational algorithm, a dielectric reflectarray composed of 40 × 40 unit cells is designed and fabricated through three-dimensional (3-D) printed technology. Four types of 3-D printed material are measured using the THz time-domain spectroscopy system. It is found that the maximum gain and gain bandwidth of the proposed reflectarray is 31.3 dBi and 20.9%, respectively. Measured results are in reasonable agreement with simulated results. This result is an important step toward the 3-D printed THz dielectric reflectarray above 220 GHz.