High Scanning-Rate Leaky-Wave Antenna Using Complementary Microstrip-Slot Stubs

A leaky-wave antenna capable of frequency-dependent beam steering and featuring a high scanning rate is introduced. The potential usefulness of the antenna resides in its ability to act as a time-space transformer in which temporal frequency-domain information can be transformed into the spatial frequency domain. Possible applications for the antenna include analog spectrum analyzers based on time-to-space transformation and also microwave imaging systems based on space-to-time conversion. One desirable property for the antenna in these types of applications is a high scanning rate where a small change in frequency can lead to significant changes in beam angle. To meet this requirement, we propose a novel high scanning-rate leaky-wave antenna using complementary microstrip-slot stubs. The design features a simple implementation and easy fabrication. It is verified by numerical examples and an experimental example. The resultant antenna design can provide a scanning rate of 135°/GHz.