Novel reflectarry for beam steering

A class of novel reflectarray antenna topologies is proposed in this paper. The common features of these topologies are the presence of microstrip patches of similar size arranged into a regular lattice configuration on the top layer, and a periodic configuration of slots of variable size on the lower layer that are utilized to adjust the phase shift of the incoming wave. A novel method for generating a reconfigurable reflectarray based on the creation of photo-induced plasma inside a semiconductor material is also presented. An optically controlled variable slot located on the ground plane of a reflectarray antenna is utilized in the suggested scheme to change the distribution of phase on the surface of the reflectarray. This property can be used for dynamic beam scanning and beam shaping