The Ultrawideband Leaky Lens Antenna

A novel directive and nondispersive antenna is presented: the ultrawideband (UWB) leaky lens. It is based on the broad band Cherenkov radiation occurring at a slot printed between different infinite homogeneous dielectrics. The first part of the paper presents the antenna concept and the UWB design. The issues that are specifically addressed include the impedance matching, the radiation pattern and the phase purity. Subsequently the hardware demonstrator and the results of the measurement campaign are shown. The results fully validate the antenna concept. The antenna presents decade bandwidth impedance matching, directive and frequency independent patterns in the H-plane over two octaves, negligible cross-polarization levels, weak amplitude dispersivity and, according to the authors, the most stable phase center for a directive antenna over an ultra wide frequency range.