V-Band Compact Risley Prism Integrated With Phase-Correcting Surface Providing High-Gain 2-D Beam-Steering Performance

A novel Risley prism (RP) integrated with phase-correcting dielectric lens (PCDLs) is designed and demonstrated at V-band (50–75 GHz) for 2-D beam-steering performance with consistent high-gain attributes. The proposed design consists of a pair of dielectric wedges built using high permittivity material integrated with a parabolic PCDL built using a low permittivity material. The proposed RP integrated with PCDL exhibits wideband steering of the incident beam into a 3-D conical space via concurrent axial rotation of the RP elements. The proposed beam-steering structure is capable of providing a consistent gain of ~24 dBi at the V-band based on the aperture size of the RP and the PCDL. The wideband performance of the proposed RP design is experimentally demonstrated using a commercial 20 dBi pyramidal standard gain horn operating at V-band (50–75 GHz). The simulated and measured gain of the proposed arrangement with the pyramidal horn along the broadside are found to be 24.6 and 23.1 dBi, respectively at 62.5 GHz. The proposed work exhibits consistent gain with deviation less than 1.3 dB and scan losses below 2 dB for scan angles of ±40° throughout the V-band (50–75 GHz). The measurement results validate the wideband steering performance of the proposed mechanism. The effect of rotation errors on the steering performance of the proposed design is also investigated.