An EH0-Mode Microstrip Leaky Wave Antenna on Differentially Excited Coupled Line for Transversal Single-Beam Radiation

This communication presents a method to make the EH0-mode microstrip leaky wave antenna (MLWA) radiate single beam in its transversal plane based on the differentially excited coupled microstrip line structure with low cross-polarization. The conventional EH0-mode MLWA is constructed by periodically loading a series of shorting pins along the center line of the uniform line, but it mainly radiates dual beams in its transversal plane. If a ground plane approaches to one of its edges with rotation of the whole structure, only one radiation aperture will be left to radiate single beam in the broadside direction. Herein, a planar differentially excited coupled line configuration is implemented to validate the proposed method and simultaneously inherits the original outstanding characteristic of freely designed narrow strip width. In design, a unified equivalent model is first established to provide insight into its radiation principle through propagation characteristics. Then, the dispersion and radiation properties are further investigated under mixed geometrical parameters. Finally, a prototype MLWA with transversal single-beam radiation is designed and fabricated with good agreement between the simulated and measured results, which validates the proposed method for designing a single-beam EH0 mode MLWA.