A wideband transmitarray antenna based on polarization conversion metasurface with 2-bit phase compensation

Abstract

A wideband transmitarray antenna (TA) incorporating a polarization conversion metasurface (PCM) is proposed. Four PCM elements with annular metallic polarizers are utilized to provide 2-bit phase compensation without altering the geometric parameters of the elements, resulting in a wideband TA with a bandwidth comparable to that of the individual elements. A prototype of the proposed TA is designed, fabricated, and measured. The measured 1- and 3-dB gain bandwidths of the proposed TA are found to be 10–13.6 GHz (30%) and 9.2–15 GHz (48.3%), respectively, while the effective 1-dB transmission band of the individual elements is 7.8–14.6 GHz. The similarity between the bandwidth of the proposed TA and that of elements used in our design demonstrates less wastage of element bandwidth by the proposed approach. A measured peak gain of 27.2 dBi and a peak aperture efficiency (AE) of 48.7% highlight the promising potential of the proposed TA for long-distance communication, point-to-point communication, and other applications.