Composite right-/left-handed interdigital leaky-wave antenna on a substrate integrated waveguide

The successful concept of a composite right-/left-handed (CRLH) leaky-wave antenna based on a periodically loaded and dielectrically-filled rectangular hollow waveguide as proven in [1]-[4] is realised by single layer printed technology, which simplifies fabrication substantially. The clue is the constitution of one cell with an interdigital series capacitor, which produces an enhanced series capacitance. The eigenvalues are determined by the method presented in [5] to circumvent a rather time-consuming simulation with a fully numerical eigenmode solver. The dispersion results are moreover validated by the estimation technique Matrix-Pencil (MP) [6] and the input reflection as well as the radiation behaviour of a fabricated prototype is measured.