Full-angle beam scanning leaky-wave antenna array based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons

A design scheme of high-gain and full-angle frequency beam scanning leaky wave antenna (LWA) and array is proposed based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) slow-wave transmission line (TL) for radar field applications. A row of complementary split ring resonators is periodically etched near the SSPPs TL, which can transform the fundamental mode of SSPPs TL to the fast-wave region and radiate electromagnetic waves, realising the full-angle frequency beam scanning performance. A 1-to-2 microwave power divider is designed to feed the LWA array and realised good impedance matching covers 5.8-9.4 GHz bandwidth. Simulation and experimental results indicate that the designed LWA array can realise full-angle beam scanning range of 180 degrees (-90 degrees to 90 degrees) with a scanning rate of 3.83 degrees/% performance. The peak gain values of the designed LWA element and array are 11.4dBi and 14.6 dBi, respectively, and the radiation efficiency of LWA array is maintained more than 80% within the operation frequency band.