A Directive Resonator Antenna Using Degenerate Band Edge Crystals

A new small antenna formed by a periodic assembly of two-tone dielectrics (Barium-titanate and Alumina) emulating an anisotropic medium is presented. Directive radiation characteristics are achieved when operated close to the band edge frequencies of a class of anisotropic photonic crystals supporting degenerate band edge (DBE) modes. Unique aspects of the antenna design are its smaller size (0.79 lambda
₀
times 0.80 lambda
₀
times 0.28 lambda
₀
) and nearly optimum aperture efficiency. The subject 3-D assembly, fed by a slot on a ground plane, achieved a directivity of 10.17 dBi. This communication presents the design of the 3-D assembly using full-wave simulations and provides experimental verification of the overall antenna performance.