Microwave Airy Beam Generation With Microstrip Patch Antenna Array

Airy beam is a diffraction-free mode which exhibits the exotic properties of self-accelerating propagation and self-healing, and for this reason, it has been largely investigated in the optics domain, theoretically and experimentally. At microwave frequencies, however, the generation of self-accelerating propagation has been proven only by employing metasurfaces, which suffer from low efficiency and require the use of a launcher. This article theoretically and experimentally investigates the generation of an Airy beam at microwave frequency with arrays employing microstrip patch antenna elements. Measurement results on a 0.931 m-long antenna array prototype designed for the frequency 5.8 GHz show the correct generation of an Airy-like beam pattern and a clearly distinguishable self-accelerating main lobe within the bandwidth 5.5-6 GHz.