Beam Manipulation of Antenna With Large Frequency-Scanning Angle Based on Field Confinement of Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons

In this communication, we propose glide-symmetric double-layer (D-L) spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) structures for controlling the field confinement of SSPPs to achieve antenna beam manipulation with a large frequency-scanning angle. By changing the shape of the glide-symmetric D-L SSPPs, we can control the electric field confinement of the SSPPs to emerge symmetric or asymmetric distribution. Hence, the proposed SSPPs structure can produce electromagnetic (EM) leakage on both sides or single side, furtherly achieving dual-beam (D-B) or single-beam (S-B) radiation. Two SSPPs antennas with dual beams and single beam are designed, fabricated, and measured. Both the D-B antenna and S-B antenna operate from 9 to 24 GHz. Within the working band, the D-B antenna accomplishes 134.3° (−90° to +44.3°) beam-scanning angle with the realized gain of 8.03–12.17 dBi, while the S-B antenna achieves 119° (−77.9° to 41.1°) beam-scanning angle with 10.31–14.24 dBi realized gain. The simulated and experimental results verified the beam manipulation and large frequency-scanning angle in antenna design.