Implementation of a wire medium in a X-band horn antenna: Simulation and experiment

This work describes the implementation of a wire medium in an X-band horn antenna and discusses the effects of the loading medium on the radiation characteristics of the modified antenna. Two configurations consisting of four and five layers of a periodic wire structure are electromagnetically simulated and experimentally tested. In both cases the return losses of the loaded antennas are compared with that of a standard commercial horn antenna. Using different setups, the radiation diagrams patterns are measured at frequencies corresponding to minimum reflection coefficient.