Design for microstrip leaky wave antenna based on SRR structure

Left-handed materials are artificial structures which received substantial attention in scientific and engineering communities in recent years. The designs of left-handed materials are developed rapidly. While applying the left-handed materials to the design of microstrip leaky wave antennas, the performance of antennas can be improved. These materials are composed of periodically assigned unit cells, which have electromagnetic responses in specified frequency bands. Based on the SRR structure, a microstrip leaky wave antenna is designed using the composite right/left-handed (CRLH) transmission line theory, then its radiation characteristics is discussed. The results of the simulations demonstrate that the antenna is capable of continuous scanning from backward to forward angles, moreover, the loss analysis is first proposed and it confirms that different loss characteristics of the structures have different effects on the performance.