A corporate feeding antenna array with parasitic patches has been investigated previously for millimeter-wave applications due to its high gain and wide bandwidth. However, the parasitic patch integration in the uniformly powered and spaced patch antenna array led to a high sidelobe level (SLL). In this study, we designed a non-uniformly powered and spaced corporate feeding network to feed a 12-element parasitic patch-integrated microstrip antenna array for SLL reduction at 28 GHz in the millimeter-wave band. In the power divider, we arranged two one-to-six unequally feeding power dividers from the opposite side to feed 12 antenna elements with non-uniform excitation, and effectively controlled the spacing between antenna elements. The two opposite input ports from the power divider were fed 180° out-of-phase for good isolation between the adjacent antenna elements. To verify the SLL reduction effect from the non-uniform spacing in the array, we designed two non-uniformly powered patch antenna arrays with uniform and non-uniform spacing. In the measurement, the non-uniformly powered and spaced patch antenna array demonstrated a nearly 16.56 dBi boresight gain and −17.27 dB SLL, which is nearly 2 dB lower than the uniformly spaced counterpart. Finally, we expect that the non-uniformly powered and spaced high gain patch antenna array with a low SLL will be suitable for millimeter-wave communication applications.

A dense unit cell array used in a metasurface for a high reflection angle (θ_r > 50°) leads to high coupling among the unit cells; thus, parasitic reflections are unavoidable. The up-do-date patch-based metasurfaces for high reflection angles were electrically large (> 80 λ²), but for a practical point of view, a more compact metasurface design is needed. As a solution for these issues, we use the folded dipole-based unit cells with closed-loop currents for low near-field coupling and design compact metasurfaces (~ 40 λ²) for high reflection angles (θ_r = 56° and 70°) at 10 GHz. The folded dipole unit cells are arranged according to the recently developed non-linear phase boundary condition for low harmonic reflections. As a counterpart, we also designed a metasurface using conventional patch-shaped unit cells with the same reflection phases (θ_r = 70°). In experiments, the folded dipole metasurface shows lower harmonic levels (θ_r = 0° and − 70°) and a comparable anomalous reflection (θ_r = 70°) versus the patch-shaped metasurface. The time-domain analysis demonstrates that the low harmonic levels from the folded dipole metasurface are due to low scattering from the guided waves and the edge scattering. The proposed compact folded dipole-based metasurface with low undesired harmonics can be used as a practical reflect-array for millimeter-wave communication links.

High field enhancement and near-perfect absorption in nanoantennas were realized by using in-plane (between nanoantenna arms), out-of-plane (between nanoantenna and reflector), and array coupling (between nanoantennas in an array); however, it was challenging to satisfy both conditions at the same time. In this paper, we show that a bowtie nanoantenna array integrated with an artificial impedance surface can simultaneously satisfy both high field enhancement and perfect absorption. The artificial impedance surface is implemented as a metallic patch array on a grounded 50 nm-thick SiO2 substrate with reactive impedance surface (RIS) or high impedance surface (HIS) characteristic. Through the proposed design methodology, we designed a bowtie nanoantenna array on an optimum RIS patch array and achieved a high field enhancement factor (E/E0) of 228 and a nearly perfect absorption rate of 98% at 230 THz. This novel design outperforms the previously reported nanoantenna structures and the same bowtie nanoantenna array designed using a conventional grounded SiO2. We also show that the HIS-integrated bowtie antenna array cannot realize both goals at the same time because the highly reflective HIS cannot guarantee perfect absorption. The proposed RIS-combined nanoantenna array with high field enhancement and near-perfect absorption can be used for efficient infrared (IR) and optical detectors, sensors, and energy harvesting devices.

A novel matching technique and the field enhancement at the terminals of a bowtie nanoantenna are utilized to develop compact, highly efficient, and flexible thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells. The bowtie antenna is designed for maximum power transfer to a near infrared band (1 μm to 2.2 μm) of a TPV cell using Indium Gallium Arsenide Antimonide (InGaAsSb). A nano-meter size block of InGaAsSb with a low bandgap energy of 0.52 eV is mounted at the terminals of the antenna. Such a load presents a frequency dependent impedance with a high resistance and capacitance at the desired frequency (180 THz). For maximum power transfer, a high impedance bowtie antenna operating at the anti-resonance mode in conjunction with an inductive stub is realized. The plasmonic behavior of the metal that tends to reduce the antenna size is partially compensated by the extra length needed to achieve the anti-resonance condition. At the desired band, the proposed nanoantenna loaded with InGaAsSb block shows an electric field intensity at the antenna terminals, which is approximately 23.5 times higher than the incident electric field intensity. This feature allows for development of efficient TPV cell and sensitive IR detectors. The infinite array of the bowtie antennas backed by a metallic reflector located at a quarter-wave behind the array is shown to absorb ∼95% of the incident power, which is more than 50% higher than the bulk InGaAsSb TPV cell. A novel configuration of the bowtie nanoantenna array is also presented that allows for collection of DC currents through an almost arbitrary parallel or series configuration of TPV cells without adversely affecting the IR performance of the individual antennas. In this scheme, elements can be arranged to be polarization dependent or independent.

High transmission efficiency metasurface unit cells have been designed based on surface electric and magnetic impedances derived from Huygens’ principle. However, unit cells for low transmission loss (<1 dB) over a wide transmission phase range require at least three metallic layers, which complicates the unit cell design process. In this paper, we introduce high-efficiency Huygens’ metasurface unit cell topologies in double-layer FR4 printed circuit board (PCB) by implementing surface electric and magnetic current using the top and bottom metallic patterns and via drills. Eleven unit cells were optimized for wide phase coverage (−150° to 150°) with a low average transmission loss of −0.82 dB at 10 GHz. To demonstrate the high-efficiency of the designed unit cells, we designed and fabricated two focusing lenses with dimensions of near 150 × 150 mm (5λ × 5λ) to focus a spherical beam radiated from short focal distances (f = 100 and 60 mm). The fabricated focusing lens showed 12.87 and 13.58 dB focusing gain for f = 100 and 60 mm at 10 GHz, respectively, with a 1 dB fractional gain bandwidth of near 10%. We expect that the proposed focusing lens based on high-efficiency double-layer metasurface unit cells can help realize compact and high-gain focusing lens-integrated antenna systems.

Recent advancements introduced a pre-phased reflective metasurface (MS) using 1-bit control to suppress the quantization lobe (QL) inherent in a typical 1-bit MS under plane wave incidence, particularly in millimeter and sub-millimeter wave bands. However, the optimal method for pre-phasing using random phases has yet to be fully explored. This study investigates the optimal number of pre-phasing, which denotes the minimum number of discrete random phases for effective suppression of QLs and side lobes while ensuring low design complexity. The results indicate that employing four discrete phases, equally spaced at 45° intervals, is the optimal solution for both normal and oblique incidences. The random phases with a 45° separation are implemented into four pairs of unit cells with passive ON/OFF switching using multilayer PCBs at 140 GHz. Each unit cell consisted of a metallic patch coupled to a transmission (Tx) line through a slot, with embedded static ON/OFF switching in the Tx line to enable 1-bit reflection phase control. Finally, three MSs with 30 × 30 unit cells, each with fixed random pre-phases, are designed and fabricated to reflect normal incidence at reflection angles (θ _r ) of 15°, 30°, and 45° at 140 GHz. The experiment results demonstrate peak reflected beams at 15°, 29°, and 45° with frequencies of 139.7 GHz, 139.1 GHz, and 135.9 GHz, respectively. In addition, significant reductions in QL to −20 dB were observed, along with reflection efficiency of 26%, and a 3 dB gain bandwidth exceeding 10%, on average, across all reflection angles in the 140 GHz band.