A Helix Excited Circularly Polarized Hollow Cylindrical Dielectric Resonator Antenna

In this letter, we use a helix to excite two orthogonal HE_11δ modes in phase quadrature in a hollow cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna to generate circular polarization. As compared to our previous work, it is shown that replacing the cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna with a hollow cylindrical-shaped one leads to a significant enhancement in the 3-dB axial-ratio bandwidth. A design guideline is provided, and three design cases are presented. A prototype for one of the designs is fabricated and measured. Measured and simulated data are presented and discussed. It is shown that the 3-dB axial-ratio bandwidth increases as the wall thickness of the hollow cylindrical dielectric resonator decreases. Furthermore, a reduction in the wall thickness requires a longer helix exciter for similar performance .