Optically Controlled Circularly Polarized-Reconfigurable Millimeter-Wave Rectangular Dielectric Resonator Antenna using Photoconductive Switches

A circularly polarized (CP)-reconfigurable rectangular dielectric resonator Antenna (RDRA) is proposed for mm-wave applications. By utilizing two photoconductive switches, the antenna can be switched to radiate either a linearly polarized (LP) field, left-hand CP (LHCP) field or right-hand CP (RHCP) field. The structure requires a simple fabrication process. The simulated results demonstrate reconfigurable polarization characteristics with an impedance bandwidth of 31.8% for both LHCP and RHCP radiations as well as an impedance bandwidth of 9.5% for the LP radiation. This is achieved in conjunction with a maximum gain of 7 dBi. The axial ratio (AR) bandwidth is similar to 11% for both LHCP and RHCP radiations.