Gain-Enhanced Dual Circularly Polarized Magnetoelectric Dipole Phased Array Antenna with 3D-Printed Dielectric Lens for 1D Beam Scanning

A novel dual circularly polarized (CP) magnetoelectric dipole (ME-dipole) phased array antenna with a gain-enhanced 3D printed lens is proposed in this paper. The phased array antenna is composed of 1×4 ME-dipole antenna elements, featuring a folded electric dipole (E-dipole) design that significantly reduces the element footprint to only 0.48λ0×0.48λ0. The array employs an element spacing of less than half a center wavelength, enabling a wide scanning range from -45° to +45° with a scan loss of 3 dB. To further enhance the realized gain of the array, a 3D-printed lens is introduced, delivering an average gain improvement of 5 dB across the operating frequency band. Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed design, making it a promising solution for applications requiring compact size, wide-angle scanning, and high gain.