3D-Printed Planar Graded Index Lens

We introduce two flat graded-index (GRIN) lens designs in this paper. First of these is a thick lens which was designed and fabricated by using the 3D-printing technique. Second, a thin Dial-aDielectric (DaD) lens which uses state-of-the-art artificially engineered dielectric materials for design and will be fabricated in future. Both designs overcome the difficulties faced in finding desired commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) materials for 3D-printing lenses. The lenses comprise of several concentric dielectric rings with bespoke relative permittivities for transforming spherical waves into plane waves and vice versa. The 3D-printed thick flat lens is low-cost and light-weight, but provides broadband and high gain performance. Measurement results show that the realized gain of the thick lens is 9-11 dB over the frequency band of 12-18 GHz. The designed DaD lens has the desirable characteristics of low loss, low reflection and broadband properties.

[1]  W. Weir.  Automatic measurement of complex dielectric constant and permeability at microwave frequencies , 1974 .

[2]  A. Petosa,et al.  Design and performance of a perforated dielectric fresnel lens , 2003 .

[3]  C. Holloway,et al.  A double negative (DNG) composite medium composed of magnetodielectric spherical particles embedded in a matrix , 2003 .

[4]  D. Smith,et al.  Gradient index metamaterials. , 2005, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[5]  S. Nemat-Nasser,et al.  Free space microwave focusing by a negative-index gradient lens , 2006, SPIE Optics + Photonics.

[6]  G. Hu,et al.  Experimental study for metamaterials based on dielectric resonators and wire frame , 2008 .

[7]  T. Cui,et al.  Layered high-gain lens antennas via discrete optical transformation , 2008 .

[8]  C. C. Njoku,et al.  Comparative study of nanomaterials' effective properties using canonical formations , 2010, 2010 Loughborough Antennas & Propagation Conference.

[9]  M. R. Chaharmir,et al.  A Wideband Transmitarray Using Dual-Resonant Double Square Rings , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[10]  Wei Hong,et al.  Systematic design of planar lenses using artificial dielectrics , 2010, 2010 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium.

[11]  Wei Hong,et al.  A zoned two-layer flat lens design , 2011, 2011 International Workshop on Antenna Technology (iWAT).

[12]  T. Cui,et al.  Three-dimensional broadband and high-directivity lens antenna made of metamaterials , 2011 .

[13]  Y. Hao,et al.  A broadband zone plate lens from transformation optics. , 2011, Optics express.

[14]  Raj Mittra,et al.  On the Synthesis of a Flat Lens using a Wideband Low-Reflection Gradient-Index Metamaterial , 2011 .

[15]  Giorgio Savini,et al.  A new artificial material approach for flat THz frequency lenses. , 2012, Optics express.

[16]  J. C. Vardaxoglou,et al.  Simulation Methodology for Synthesis of Antenna Substrates With Microscale Inclusions , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[17]  H. Ma,et al.  Three-Dimensional Gradient-Index Materials and Their Applications in Microwave Lens Antennas , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[18]  Yang Hao,et al.  Transformation optics for antennas: why limit the bandwidth with metamaterials? , 2013, Scientific Reports.

[19]  Raj Mittra,et al.  Flat-Lens Design Using Field Transformation and Its Comparison With Those Based on Transformation Optics and Ray Optics , 2013, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[20]  Yang Hao,et al.  Flat Luneburg Lens via Transformation Optics for Directive Antenna Applications , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[21]  William G. Whittow,et al.  Novel 3D printed synthetic dielectric substrates , 2015 .

[22]  Raj Mittra,et al.  Flat Lens Design Using Artificially Engineered Materials , 2016 .