Anisotropic meta-substrate conical-beam leaky-wave antenna

A broadband and low beam squint anisotropic magneto-dielectric 2D leaky-wave antenna excited by a vertical electric source is presented. A comparison of the TM_z dispersion behavior of the structure for Drude/Lorentz dispersive anisotropic and an isotropic non-dispersive grounded slabs is performed. The isotropic slab is restricted to leaky-wave pointing angles near endfire with very low radiation performance due to the inherent endfire radiation null caused by the slab. As a result, its radiation is dominated by the space-wave, which leads to low directivity and beam scanning incapability. In contrast, the anisotropic meta-substrate provides a highly directive and efficient 2D leaky-wave radiation with great design flexibility. At its lower frequencies, it provides narrow-band full-space conical-beam scanning while at higher frequencies, it enables a designable angle fixed-beam with low-beam squint radiation. This antenna may find applications in broadband point-to-point communication and radar systems.