Leaky-waves in a metamaterial-based two-dimensional structure for a conical beam antenna application

A two-dimensional periodic mushroom structure is proposed as a leaky-wave antenna with a conical beam. To the author's knowledge, this is the first 2D leaky wave antenna demonstrated experimentally. The structure can be modelled as a composite right/left-handed (CRLH) transmission line and exhibits both backward and forward leakage. The radiation patterns for the antenna are shown and demonstrated a scanning range of 15/spl deg/-33/spl deg/ in the backward region and 27/spl deg/-63/spl deg/ in the forward region.