Electric-controlled scanning Luneburg lens based on metamaterials

• Published in: Applied physics. A, Materials science & processing Materials science & processing, 2013-05, Vol.111 (2), p.445-450
• Main Authors: Wang, Min, Huang, Cheng, Pu, Ming-Bo, Hu, Cheng-Gang, Pan, Wen-Bo, Zhao, Ze-Yu, Luo, Xian-Gang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antennas; Beams (radiation); Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Gain; Lenses; Lenses, prisms, and mirrors; Machines; Manufacturing; Metamaterials; Nanotechnology; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optical elements, devices, and systems; Optical materials; Optics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Processes; Rapid Communication; Scanning; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; Unit cell; Voltage; Wave optics; Wave propagation, transmission and absorption
• ISSN: 0947-8396; 1432-0630
• DOI: 10.1007/s00339-013-7603-9

The feasibility of 360 ∘ scanning Luneburg lens based on electric-controlled metamaterial is analyzed. When the line source is fixed in the center of the lens, the direction of radiated beam can be tuned by adjusting the bias voltages distribution applied to the varactors in each unit cell. By introducing an artificial reflective plane, the gain of the antenna can be further enhanced. The minimal step of scanning angle obtained in simulation is only 7 ∘ , which can be further decreased by increasing the dimension and the number of unit cell used in Luneburg lens.