Circularly Polarized Fabry-Perot Antenna Employing a Receiver–Transmitter Polarization Conversion Metasurface

Abstract

This study presents a linear-to-circular polarization conversion metasurface (PCM) based on a novel unit cell for a circularly polarized (CP) Fabry-Perot (FP) antenna. The unit cell consists of a bottom linear-polarization patch and a top circular-polarization patch, which are separated by a metalized plane and connected by a metalized via. The bottom patch receives the power and transfers it to the top layer through the metalized via; the top layer then transmits the power into space. The metasurface is designed to have high reflectivity and an appropriate reflection phase to compose a resonate cavity with the ground plane. The capability of linear to circular polarization conversion is provided to the PCM by adjustment of the transmission magnitude and phase. A slot coupled patch antenna is used as the feeder due to its stable broadside radiation. The linearly polarized wave emitting from the feeder resonates in the cavity and then is converted into a CP wave when it comes out of the cavity. A prototype antenna is fabricated and measured. The measurement results show that the antenna has good circular polarization performance within the band of 9.8–10.2 GHz. The maximum gain of the antenna reaches 17.8 dBic at 10 GHz, with an aperture efficiency of 53%. The proposed antenna outperforms most of the previously reported CP FP antennas due to its low profile, high gain, and relatively high efficiency.