Design of Miniaturized Dominant Mode Leaky-Wave Antenna Using Left Handed Metamaterials

A new miniaturized dominant mode planner leaky-wave antenna is proposed. This antenna is a transmission line structure with radiating wavenumber increasing from negative to positive values, providing backward to forward scanning capability as frequency increases. The antenna profile is designed based on microstrip technology using balanced composite right left handed transmission lines (CRLH TL) approach. The balanced CRLH TL is designed based on cascaded combination of inter digital capacitor (IDC) in series and vias to the ground plane at the bent stub ends in shunt. Bent stubs are used in each section for the purpose of miniaturization. Dispersion characteristics of CRLH TL shows the left handed region, right handed region and balanced design of composite right left handed metamaterial. The radiation pattern of the proposed antenna confirms the full scanability i.e. backfire-to-endfire scanning capability of the antenna. The frequency parameter and performance of the antenna are evaluated by full-wave electromagnetic simulator using Ansoft Designer and all frequency parameter and performance are verified by another full-wave electromagnetic simulator using IE3D.