Ultra-Thin Broadband Transmission FSS for Linear Polarization Rotation

Frequency-selective surfaces (FSSs), have various applications in microwave electromagnetics. This paper reports a solution to the current FSS challenges of flexibly, low profile, simple fabrication and polarization control using a novel structure operating across X and Ku frequency bands where a li...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Nickolas M. Littman, Steven G. O'keefe, Amir Galehdar, Hugo G. Espinosa, David V. Thiel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2021-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9521150/
Description
Summary:Frequency-selective surfaces (FSSs), have various applications in microwave electromagnetics. This paper reports a solution to the current FSS challenges of flexibly, low profile, simple fabrication and polarization control using a novel structure operating across X and Ku frequency bands where a linearly polarized wave is rotated by 90&#x00B0;. The FSSs were fabricated by laser engraving a thin layer of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$5\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> aluminum on a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$65~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> Mylar substrate with a relative permittivity of 2.7, and separated by a dielectric spacing layer of 0.9 mm polypropylene substrate, with a relative permittivity of 3. The co and cross-polarized reflection and transmission response of the structure was investigated using numerical modeling and was measured experimentally. A parametric study was also conducted focusing on key performance indicators, and specifically the bandwidth of the structure. The novelty of this polarization rotation structure lies in its ultra-thin profile (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.034~\lambda _{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>), flexibility and significant transmission bandwidth. The fabricated prototypes experimental results were in good agreement with the simulated results, with a simulated &#x2212;6 dB bandwidth of 61&#x0025; and a measured &#x2212;6dB bandwidth of 60&#x0025;. Applications include antenna radomes where polarization is particularly important, as well as other polarization filtering applications which require a conformal low profile structure.
ISSN:2169-3536