Metal-strip-loaded rectangular dielectric rod leaky-wave antennas: experimental verification of a new simple theory

An earlier simple and accurate theory for the class of metal-strip-loaded dielectric antennas is extended to the case of narrower antennas, where the width to grating period is significantly less than 4 to 1. This extension is based on the effective dielectric constant method, and is therefore very simple. Careful measured data for two representative structures, a wide antenna and a narrow one, are presented, and it is shown that the theories for both cases are sufficiently accurate for engineering design. Comparisons between measurement and theory demonstrate the validity of the theories for both the wide and narrow cases, verifying the earlier theory for wider antennas and the current extension to narrower widths. The theory and its simple extension are shown to be sufficiently accurate for the design of millimeter-wave antennas with prescribed characteristics.<>