Generating Multiple OAM Based on a Nested Dual-Arm Spiral Antenna

Abstract

In this paper, a nested dual-arm spiral antenna (NDASA) is proposed to generate multiple orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes at the same operating frequency. The NDASA consists of the feeding network and three nested dual-arm spiral structures with different sizes. Meanwhile, a metal reflector is located between the spiral structures and the feeding network to enhance the radiation directivity, which can also reduce the impact of the radio frequency (RF) coaxial cables. Both the experimental and simulated results show OAM waves with topological charges of l = 1, l = 3 and l = 5 can be independently generated at f = 3 GHz, and their maximum gains are 6.94dBi, 6.76dBi and 5.49dBi, respectively. In addition, the OAM modes multiplexing and demultiplexing technology are investigated in simulations and experiments. The isolations between the OAM modes of l = 1, l = 3 and l = 5 and the other different OAM modes are greater than 13.8dB, 13.2dB and 25.1dB, respectively, which proves the potential ability of the proposed NDASA for multiplexing and demultiplexing multiple OAM modes.