Periodic leaky wave antenna for spoof plasmon radiation

Abstract

In this paper, we present a compact methodology to design periodic leaky wave antennas that enable the radiation of spoof plasmon type surface waves. The approach is based on structurally modifying a flat corrugated reactance surface. In particular a properly engineered periodic perturbation is introduced that enables the excitation of the n = -1 spatial Floquet mode. This mode is characterized by a complex wavenumber whose real part is less than that of free space. As a result the guided spoof plasmons efficiently couple to radiating modes. Representative numerical experiments are performed that validate the proposed design methodology.