A compact leaky‐wave antenna using a planar spoof surface plasmon polariton structure

Abstract

This article presents and validates a leaky-wave antenna by using the spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) technique. By properly designing the proposed SSPP unit, the SSPP wave can be switched between the confinement and radiation modes. A large radiation efficiency can be achieved by properly designing the modulation depth, which ensures that a compact SSPP leaky-wave array can be realized by using a small number of SSPP radiation units. To verify the design, a prototype which consists of a SSPP feeding network and a 4 by 4 SSPP radiation units has been fabricated by using a low cost FR-4 substrate. A good agreement between simulated and measured results has been obtained. The proposed array antenna shows the promising capability of the SSPP technique for leaky-wave antenna applications.