Abstract: There is a great interest in the automotive and military sectors for small and broadband antennas that meet modern communication needs. These needs require ultra-wide bandwidth (>10:1) UWB antennas, such as the spiral antenna. However, the physical size at the low-frequency end typically becomes too large for practical applications. To reduce the size of the antenna, miniaturization techniques must be employed such as the use of high-contrast dielectric materials. Size reduction using high-contrast materials has been demonstrated for narrowband antennas, such as patch antennas, but not for broadband antennas to our knowledge. Therefore, the concept of miniaturizing a broadband spiral antenna using dielectric materials will be investigated experimentally and numerically.Issues that arise from dielectric loading such as impedance reduction will also be addressed. It will be shown using the results from these studies that there are practical limitations to the amount of miniaturization which can be achieved.

Abstract: A comparative study between theory and experiment is presented for transmission through lossy frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) on silicon in the 2 – 15 micrometer range. Important parameters controlling the resonance shape and location are identified: dipole length, spacing, impedance, and dielectric surroundings. Their separate influence is exhibited. The primary resonance mechanism of FSSs is the resonance of the individual metallic patches. There is no discernable resonance arising from a feed-coupled configuration. The real part of the element's impedance controls the minimum value of transmission, while scarcely affecting its location. Varying the imaginary part shifts the location of resonance, while only slightly changing the minimum value of transmission. With such fine-tuning, it is possible to make a good fit between theory and experiment near the dipole resonance on any sample. A fixed choice of impedance can provide a reasonable fit to all samples fabricated under the same conditions. The dielectric surroundings change the resonance wavelength of the FSS compared to its value in air. The presence of FSS on the substrate increases the absorptivity/emissivity of the surface in a resonant way. Such enhancement is shown for dipole and cross arrays at several wavelengths.

Abstract: We present results of mesurments of the polarization response of asymetric spiral antennas coupled Ni-NiO-Ni diodes, over the wavelength range 10.2 to 10.7 μm. The feed structure of the antenna imposes an elliptical polarization singature that is different from the circular polarization expected from a symmetric spiral. We develop a lossy-transmission-line model yielding the measured polarization response. A combination of a balanced and an unbalanced mode is required. Reflected current waves from the arm ends are significant.