Design and Performance Evaluation of a Dielectric Flat Lens Antenna for Millimeter-Wave Applications

In this letter, a practical fabrication of a novel inhomogeneous gradient-index dielectric flat lens for millimeter-wave applications is presented. A previous theoretical design of a dielectric flat lens composed of different permittivity materials is now modeled and analyzed for a practical prototype fabrication and performance evaluation at 60 and 77 GHz. The measurement results at 60 GHz show that with the novel gradient-index dielectric flat lens antenna prototype, we can achieve up to 18.3 dB of broadside gain, beam-steering capabilities in both planes from -30° to +30° with around 15 dB of gain, and up to ±45° with around 14 dB of gain, with low sidelobe levels. At 77 GHz, the performance evaluation shows that we can obtain up to 18.9 dB of broadside gain, beam-steering capabilities in both planes from -30° to +30° with around 17 dB of gain and low sidelobe levels, and up to ±45° with around 15 dB of gain. This novel design leads to a low-cost, low-profile, and lightweight antenna solution, easy to integrate in a compact millimeter-wave wireless communication system.