Flat Lenses for Circularly Polarized Electromagnetic Waves

A planar array of passive lens elements can be phased to approximate the effect of a curved dielectric lens. The rotational orientation of each element can provide the required phase shift for circular polarization. The array elements must be designed so that the hand of circular polarization changes as the electromagnetic wave passes through the lens. An element is presented that is based on an aperture-coupled microstrip patch antenna. Two lenses are designed; both operate in the Ku-band, have a diameter of 254 mm, and contain 349 lens elements. The elements have identical dimensions but the rotational orientation of each element is selected to provide a specific lens function. The first lens is designed to collimate radiation from a feed horn into a beam pointing 20° from broadside. The measured aperture efficiency is 48%, the cross-polarization discrimination ratio is 20 dB, and the --3-dB-gain bandwidth is 17%. A simulation technique that assumes local periodicity for each element is used to predict the antenna performance. Guidelines are given for predicting the radiation pattern, gain, bandwidth, and cross-polarization discrimination ratio of a much larger array. The second lens acts as a Wollaston-type prism. It splits an incident wave according to its circular polarization components. The prism effect occurs because of the equal but opposite phase shifts applied to each hand of incident circular polarization.