A Fourier Optics Tool to Derive the Plane Wave Spectrum of Quasi-Optical Systems [EM Programmer's Notebook]

Quasi-optical (QO) antennas employ feeds in combination with lenses or reflectors. Design optimization of such antennas can be expensive due to the high computational cost associated with the analysis of electrically large and multiscale structures. This issue's “EM Programmer's Notebook” column describes a freely available MATLAB-based tool for the fast analysis of QO antennas. It facilitates the design of QO antenna feeds through the introduction of a field-matching methodology. It could also be useful in the codesign of feeds and QO components. The tool provides valuable complimentary capabilities to commercial packages.