Full-Space and High-Scanning Rate Leaky-Wave Antenna Based on Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons

A full-space and high-scanning-rate leaky-wave antenna (LWA) based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) is proposed, which consists of the SSPPs design and rectangular periodic metal patches. Electromagnetic (EM) waves are transmitted along the SSPPs and coupled to the metal patches to generate fast radiation waves, which can achieve back-to-front frequency beam scanning performance. Additionally, the radiation mechanisms of the design are explained by the dispersion relationship, space harmonics and electric field distributions. The proposed LWA radiates energy based on −1 order space harmonic, which can realize full space and high beam scanning rate performance by controlling the period of the patches. Simulation results show that the LWA realizes a full space beam scanning from −90° to 90° within the 12.9 to 16.5 GHz frequency band, while the antenna also maintains a high scan rate of 7.35°/%.