3D‐printed planar graded index lenses. Issue 13 (1st October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Shiyu; Arya, Ravi Kumar; Pandey, Shaileshchandra; Vardaxoglou, Yiannis; Whittow, Will; Mittra, Raj
• Is Part Of: IET microwaves, antennas & propagation. Volume 10:Issue 13(2016)
• Page Start: 1411
• Page End: 1419
• Publication Date: 2016-10-01
• Subjects: lenses -- permittivity -- dielectric materials; frequency 12 GHz to 18 GHz -- gain 9 dB to 11 dB -- broadband properties -- 3D‐printed thick flat lens -- plane waves -- spherical waves -- bespoke relative permittivities -- concentric dielectric rings -- artificially engineered dielectric materials -- DaD lens -- thin dial‐a‐dielectric lens -- GRIN lens designs -- two flat graded‐index -- three‐dimensional printed planar graded index lens; Microwaves -- Periodicals; Microwave antennas -- Periodicals; Antennas (Electronics) -- Periodicals; Radio wave propagation -- Periodicals; Microwave communication systems -- Periodicals; 621.381305
• DOI: 10.1049/iet-map.2016.0013
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-8725

Abstract

Abstract : The authors introduce two flat graded‐index (GRIN) lens designs in this study. First of these is a thick lens, which was designed and fabricated by using the three‐dimensional (3D)‐printing technique. Second, a thin dial‐a‐dielectric (DaD) lens, which uses state‐of‐the‐art artificially engineered dielectric materials for design and for which they present only the simulated results, with plans to fabricate it in the future. Both designs overcome the difficulties faced in finding desired commercial off‐the‐shelf materials, either for 3D‐printing or for fabricating conventional GRIN lenses. The lenses comprise of several concentric dielectric rings with bespoke relative permittivities for transforming spherical waves into plane waves and vice versa. The 3D‐printed thick flat lens is low‐cost and light‐weight, but provides broadband and high gain performance. Measurement results show that the realised gain of the thick lens is 9–11 dB over the frequency band of 12–18 GHz. The designed DaD lens has the desirable characteristics of low loss, low reflection and broadband properties.