Circular polarized leaky wave surface

A circular polarized (CP) infrared (IR) leaky wave surface design is presented. The metasurface consists of an array of rectangular patches connected by microstrip and operating over the long-wave infrared (LWIR) spectrum with directional wave emission and absorption. The surface is composed of periodically aligned arrays of sub-wavelength metal patches separated from a ground plane by a dielectric slab. The design combines the features of the conventional patch and leaky wave antenna leading to a metasurface that preferentially emits CP IR radiation by use of axial asymmetrical unit cells. This is a deviation from reported structures that mainly employ a phase shifter to combine linearly polarized waves in order to attain circular polarization. The performance of this leaky wave surface is verified through full-wave simulation using the ANSYS HFSS finite element analysis tool. The leaky wave phenomenon is demonstrated by the frequency and angular dependence of the absorption while circular polarization is characterized via stokes parameters. The main beam of this surface can be steered continuously by varying the frequency while maintaining circular polarization within the main beam direction. A CP leaky wave at 10.6 μm with a scanning angle of 30° is demonstrated. Metasurfaces exhibiting spectral and polarization selectivity in absorption/emission hold the potential for impact in IR applications including detection, imaging, thermal management, energy harvesting and tagging.