Novel Pole Computation Technique for Leaky-Wave Antenna Embedded in Multilayered Medium

An alternate analytic technique is proposed here for the leaky-wave transmission due to a horizontal electric dipole source embedded in a conductor-backed planar multilayered configuration. If there is a change in the number of layers, the proposed formulation avoids the rigorous recomputation of leaky-wave analysis using conventional asymptotic/transmission line approximation by a simpler transcendental relation to compute the leaky-wave poles with the updated generalized reflection coefficient. Once the poles are determined, corresponding directivity and radiation patterns can be easily computed using the well-established literature. The proposed pole extraction technique using the Laurent's series method has been validated against the existing literature of alternate approaches. As a proof of concept, the complex leaky-wave poles, radiation patterns, and propagation constants are computed with the proposed formulation using the Newton–Raphson method and are validated against alternate asymptotic and transmission line approximation approaches. For potential applications in directive beam-forming and frequency scanning, parametric studies are reported for different material and geometric configurations.