3D Metal-Only Phoenix Cell and its Application for Transmit-Reflect-Array

This paper presents a 3D metal-only waveguide-based phoenix cell. The proposed cell uses open-ended waveguides, which allow a portion of the incident wave to pass through the phoenix cell. It thus has the ability to control both reflection and transmission phases. Its principle is analyzed in detail. Two metal-only transmit-reflect-array antennas are then designed. The proposed transmit-reflect-array antennas are able to produce both transmitted and reflected beams at 16 GHz in the target directions simultaneously. One of the transmit-reflect-array antennas is fabricated using selective laser melting 3D printing technology. The measured results show that a good agreement between the simulated and measured radiation patterns is achieved. The side lobe and cross polarization levels at 16-GHz are −15.3-dB and −23.1-dB respectively. The measured gain of transmitted and reflected beams at 16-GHz are 25.7-dBi and 24.1-dBi respectively. Both the simulation and measurement results fully demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed 3D metal-only phoenix cell.