Spatial-temporal Talbot effects in impulse-regime metamaterial leaky-wave antennas

A spatial-temporal Talbot phenomenon, based on metamaterial composite right/left-handed (CRLH) leaky-wave antennas (LWAs), is presented. The phenomenon is based on the combination of the regular spatial Talbot effect and the transient character of the pulse radiation phenomenon in the LWA structure, and it is localized both in space in time. The CRLH LWA scanning properties are used to obtain, for the first time in the microwave domain, a tunable Talbot effect as a function of frequency. A novel mathematical development is proposed to the analysis of the impulse-regime radiation of the CRLH LWA array. The presented Talbot phenomenon is analyzed theoretically and validated numerically for the case of narrow-band pulses.