Circularly polarized terahertz leaky-wave antenna with metamaterial scatterers

We propose a leaky-wave antenna to generate circularly polarized highly directional terahertz beam using metamaterial scatters. A microstrip line is loaded with a series of complementary electric-LC and electric-LC resonators to generate respectively E
_x
and E
_y
components. The 90
⁰
-phase difference and almost unity amplitude ratio of E
_x
and E
_y
are achieved by relative positioning of the resonators on and off the stripline and optimizing the gap size. Moreover, the phase front of the radiated wave can be adjusted to a specific direction by controlling the period of the resonator array. These highly directional planar antennas can be utilized in short-range THz communication, sensing and imaging applications.