Stepped conical zone plate antenna

James C. Wiltse

doi:10.1117/12.434219

26 July 2001 Stepped conical zone plate antenna

James C. Wiltse

Proceedings Volume 4386, Photonic and Quantum Technologies for Aerospace Applications III; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.434219
Event: Aerospace/Defense Sensing, Simulation, and Controls, 2001, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

The Fresnel zone plate lens was invented and developed for optical frequencies. However, fabrication difficulties at the short optical wavelengths have prevented obtain good efficiencies. At longer microwave or millimeter-wavelengths fabrication is easier and phase correcting zone plate antennas have been used to obtain good efficiencies. This paper describes a new type of phase correcting zone plate having even better efficiency, namely a diffraction efficiency of 99 percent compared to a true lens, and an overall efficiency much better than a true lens. For the usual zone plate antenna employed at microwave or millimeter wavelengths, path length adjustment is accomplished by cutting different depths in a dielectric plate or by using two or more dielectrics having different dielectric constants. The new design uses a tilted cut in a dielectric plate, which more accurately matches the shape of a true lens and produces much lower phase error. The construction is still near and can be made for example, by a milling machine with a tilted bit. For a circular zone plate, the lens is a stepped conical or tapered shape. Because the phase steps are small, the far-field antenna pattern is excellent and sidelobe-levels are very low. Analysis of typical configurations will be given, showing that phase errors are small, lower than those for an eighth-wave corrected phase zone plate.

Citation Download Citation

James C. Wiltse "Stepped conical zone plate antenna", Proc. SPIE 4386, Photonic and Quantum Technologies for Aerospace Applications III, (26 July 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.434219

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