Dual-Band Submillimeter-Wave Leaky-Wave Lens Antenna for Heterodyne Cometary Mapping

The next generation of space-based submillimeter-wave remote cometary mapping instruments is being developed at NASA/JPL with two receiver bands at 210-240 GHz and 500-580 GHz. This instrument requires an array of receivers to decrease image acquisition time of velocity-resolved maps of key cometary...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on terahertz science and technology 2024-12, p.1-15
Main Authors: Bosma, Sjoerd, Berkel, Sven L. van, Alonso-delPino, Maria, Blanco, Darwin, Jung-Kubiak, Cecile, Lin, Robert, Chattopadhyay, Goutam, Siles, Jose V., Llombart, Nuria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antenna arrays
Antenna feeds
Antennas
Bandwidth
Comets
Dual band
dual-band antennas
heterodyne instrumentation
Instruments
leaky-waves
lens antennas
Lenses
Receivers
Receiving antennas
Submillimeter-wave
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The next generation of space-based submillimeter-wave remote cometary mapping instruments is being developed at NASA/JPL with two receiver bands at 210-240 GHz and 500-580 GHz. This instrument requires an array of receivers to decrease image acquisition time of velocity-resolved maps of key cometary volatiles. Furthermore, a single shared focal plane is required to save power, mass and space while maintaining overlapping and equal-beamwidth target illumination at both bands. Here, we describe the analysis, synthesis, fabrication and measurement of a prototype dual-band, submillimeter-wave leaky-wave lens antenna intended for a 4×4 focal-plane array (FPA) under a parabolic reflector that achieves these goals. The FPA elements are waveguide-fed leaky-wave lens antennas with a novel stratification including an integrated frequency-selective surface (FSS) that enables 15% operational bandwidths around 225 GHz and 540 GHz simultaneously. The propagating leaky-wave modes in this stratification are studied in detail and the stratification is then synthesized in manufacturable components. A submillimeter-wave lens antenna prototype was fabricated using high-precision silicon microfabrication techniques. Measurements of this prototype demonstrates a performance closely matching simulated results in both frequency bands.
ISSN:2156-342X
DOI:10.1109/TTHZ.2024.3510652