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In this article, a new concept to improve the angular stability of linear-to-circular polarizing reflectors is presented. It is first explicitly demonstrated that existing design approaches heavily rely on the adjustment of the design stack-up, namely, the substrate height and relative permittivity, to the desired operating frequency. An approach is then proposed for decoupling the performance from the substrate parameters. The proposed approach provides increased design flexibility, resulting in performance improvement. Insight on the operating principle is provided resorting to equivalent circuit models. Subsequently, the benefits of the angularly stable reflection polarizer are demonstrated by a practical example involving a multiple beam antenna implemented using materials and processes compatible with satellite missions. The antenna exploits an innovative quasi-optical beamformer as primary feed combined with a cylindrical polarizing reflector. Numerical and experimental results from this antenna architecture are presented to confirm the improvements achieved with the proposed concept over existing designs. The close comparison of simulations with measurements that are achieved validates the concept and the design approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter proposes an efficient design process to reduce the cross polarization of linear-to-circular reflection polarizers illuminated by practical feeds. In particular, we propose a two-step process, where first a geometrical optimization of the unit cell is applied along one plane of the reflector, followed by a progressive rotation of the unit cell in the orthogonal plane. An offset flat polarizer comprised of dipole unit cells fed by a standard gain horn has been used to illustrate the process. Significant improvements in cross-polarization discrimination are demonstrated by simulation. Two breadboards have been manufactured, and their response is compared in order to demonstrate the validity of the design process. Good agreement with measurements is observed corroborating the proposed technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel class of circular polarization selective surfaces (CPSSs) consisting of a pair of planar split-ring resonator arrays is proposed. A significant advantage of the proposed structure over existing designs is its manufacturing simplicity compatible with standard printed technology processes. Its operating principle is reviewed alongside that of the Pierrot cell and in light of the linear polarization reflection and transmission characteristics of CPSSs. Guidelines for the initial design of the proposed CPSS concept are thus derived. Further design considerations and tradeoffs are also discussed. The validity of the concept is confirmed by means of a design example entailing a right-hand CPSS at 20 GHz. Full-wave simulation results and experimental testing on a fabricated prototype are presented and agree well with the theoretical predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fast and efficient synthesis procedure for a new class of low-profile frequency selective electromagnetic absorbers with well-defined absorption and reflection bands as well as steep selectivity between the two is proposed. One contribution of this work lies with the combined use of nonresonant subwavelength capacitive and inductive arrays, which leads to low-profile polarization-insensitive and angularly stable designs. Another novelty stems from the use of rigorous synthesis techniques that enable efficiently selecting the cutoff frequencies, reflectivity level, and skirt selectivity for an arbitrary order of the absorption response. Significantly, here we investigate for the first time the out-of-band characteristics of flat absorbers and demonstrate designs which, at frequencies lower than the absorption band, present high reflectivity with a flat reflection phase. Beyond traditional applications, such as stealth, the combination of a well-defined absorption band with such out-of-band reflection properties makes the proposed frequency-selective absorbers pertinent for dual-band satellite-communication antenna reflectors with congruent beams in transmit and receive bands, where the ratio of 1:1.5 between the two bands is normally required. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A variety of cell elements are presented in this paper for the construction of frequency selective surface (FSS) backed reflectarrays. Among the cell elements are the conventional ring elements for FSS and slotted patch for the reflectarray. Different combinations of FSS cell elements and reflectarray cell elements are employed for the realization of FSS-backed reflectarrays and the criteria for the selection of the optimum structure are presented. Prototypes of these reflectarrays were fabricated and tested. The measurements demonstrated that for an optimum design, the gain of an FSS-backed reflectarray is about 1.0 dB lower than its counterpart backed by solid ground plane. Characterization of the out of band performance of these antennas demonstrated close to 1.0 dB insertion loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]