Wide-band Beam-scanning by Surface Wave Confinement on Leaky Wave Holograms

A two-dimensional (2-D) metasurface design for backward leaky wave suppression in microwave regime is proposed based on the theory of holography. The so-called Rabbit’s ears phenomenon describes that the backward mode in the reference wave plays the destructive role and makes the holography principle to behave properly mainly in an only narrow frequency interval. Here, we explore the utilization of the surface wave reflectors to suppress the backward mode to achieve wide-band holograms. Therefore, the reference wave form is manipulated by the choice of various reflector shapes and some providing forward mode dominant reference wave are analyzed and simulated. The less backward mode participates in the reference wave; the wider operation frequency range is obtained. With the canceled Rabbit’s ears phenomenon, variations in the reference wave frequency cause elevation angle scan. The results provide general insights into relation of the Rabbit’s ears phenomenon and the object wave accuracy in frequencies except the design frequency. The idea is also applied to multiple object wave holograms. The concept is verified using both electromagnetic full-wave simulations and experimental measurements.