A Semianalytical Approach to Designing High-Transparency Low-Profile Circular Polarizers

This paper presents a semianalytical approach to streamline the design process of a linear-to-circular polarizer (LCP). The LCP is composed of only two identical frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) and can be based in free space or on low dielectric constant substrates. The adopted unit cell is electrically small and utilizes a modified Jerusalem cross (MJC) FSS grid. The low profile (0.11λ
₀
) and compactness of the cells (0.17λ
₀
× 0.17λ
₀
) enhance the accuracy of the circuit-driven design approach and eases calculations associated with numerical simulations. When based in free space, the LCP offers axial ratios of less than 3 and 1 dB over 10% and 3.8% fractional bandwidths, with low insertion losses of 0.5 and 0.35 dB, respectively, making it appealing to both terrestrial and satellite applications.