3D PRINTED LATTICES WITH SPATIALLY VARIANT SELF-COLLIMATION

In this work, results are given for controlling waves arbitrarily inside a new type of spatially variant lattice. To demonstrate the concept, an unguided beam was made to flow around a 90° bend without diffracting or scattering. Control of the field was achieved by spatially varying the orientation of the unit cells throughout a self-collimating photonic crystal, but in a manner that almost completely eliminated deformations to the size and shape of the unit cells. The device was all-dielectric, monolithic, and made from an ordinary dielectric with low relative permittivity (εr = 2.45). It was manufactured by fused deposition modeling, a form of 3D printing, and its performance confirmed experimentally at around 15 GHz.