Holographic antennas realized from interference patterns determined in the presence of the dielectric substrate

Abstract

Holographic antennas are attractive due to their low-profile and potentially high gain. These antennas are synthesized from the interference pattern of a reference wave and a plane wave. The reference wave is generated by the feed antenna and the plane wave is used to represent an ideal antenna's wavefront in the far-zone. At millimeter-wave frequencies, using printed circuit technology to fabricate the hologram requires the use of an approximated form of the interference pattern. The hologram is realized by etching metallic strips at the pattern's minima on a dielectric substrate. The strips are used to "record" the minima of the interference pattern since the tangential electric field is forced to zero there. Previous works have addressed other issues while using the free-space interference pattern to realize the binary hologram. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the effects of the realistic source and the presence of the dielectric substrate on the interference pattern. The new patterns could provide insights as to where the strips should be placed with respect to the feed, and the required curvature of the strips. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)