Implementation of a compact Ka-band parallel plate Luneburg lens based on a hybrid dielectric/metasurface unit cell

摘要

The complete implementation and numerical validation of a compact cost-effective multiport parallel plate Luneburg lens antenna operating at 28 GHz is described in this paper. The lens design consists of two parallel plates separated by a gap where each of them contains a metasurface structure based on a new type of combined dielectric/holey unit cell periodically arranged in a glide-symmetric configuration. The required refractive index is achieved by a combination of coarse control by adding a dielectric in the gap, and fine tuning by changing the height of the holes. The simulations of the final prototype including a flare to ensure a smooth wave transition from the parallel plate configuration to air, as well as a coaxial-to-waveguide-to-parallel plate feeding, show a 20% bandwidth for 11.5 dB return loss, and the crosstalk remains below -15 dB for the same frequency band.