On the Polarization Properties of a Dielectric Leaky Wave Antenna

In this letter, the polarization properties of composite planar dielectric structures fed by point sources are investigated. With an appropriate choice of substrate heights and dielectric constants, the structure is a leaky wave antenna (LWA), based on a (Fabry-Peacuterot)-like effect, which enhances the directivity of isotropic sources (e.g., dipoles or slots). These antennas have been deeply investigated in the past, especially from the antenna gain point of view. Nevertheless, the aspect concerning with the polarization has not been well explored yet. In our analysis, we show that this high-gain antenna is very well polarized when the excitation is provided by a perfectly polarized feeding source. This concept is important in the design of overlapped apertures in multifeed aperture systems