This article investigates the validity of the physical optics/geometrical optics (PO/GO) approximation in modeling low-permittivity integrated lens antennas when there is significant illumination of the shadow region as a function of the feed and lens geometry. The comparative analysis reveals that for certain extended hemispherical lenses, feed illumination of the lens surface beyond the critical angle leads to significant discrepancies in radiation pattern and antenna gain between PO/GO predictions and full-wave simulations. These discrepancies are traced to the constructive far-field contribution of the shadow region currents relative to those originating from the top lens region below the critical angle. The measurements of fabricated extended hemispherical lenses confirm these findings, showing up to 2-dB gain enhancement over PO/GO predictions and showcasing the limitations of traditional high-frequency modeling techniques in capturing this phenomenon. The significant gain enhancement, along with the clean measured radiation patterns, highlights the potential of using lens antenna designs with feeds that provide strong shadow region illumination. These findings provide new insights into the development of high-performance integrated lens antennas for advanced communication and sensing applications.

The spectroscopic properties of crystalline silicon wafers are investigated experimentally as a function of the temperature. To this goal, samples of phosphorus-doped silicon are characterized using Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy (THz-TDS) in reflection. Four different samples span resistivities from ∼0.04 − 50Ω cm, for temperatures ranging from room temperature to 200 C. The measurements confirm that the widely used Drude's theory is adequate also to model the dispersion of silicon at higher temperatures. When comparing the corresponding scattering times obtained here using THz TDS pulses with the scattering time derived from the well accepted DC based empirical model of the mobility, differences emerge depending on the doping level. The scattering times predicted and measured are on the same order of magnitude and the anticipated reduction of the scattering time with increasing temperature has also been confirmed by the high frequency measurements. The absorptivity of the samples is also estimated accurately as a function of the frequency up to 1 THz.

This communication presents a method to ease the computational burden of simulating antennas radiating close to dielectric bodies, e.g., dielectric lenses. The input impedance can be split into the capacitance of the feeding gap, a term associated with the propagation in dielectric half-space, and a term associated with the reflections created by the finite dielectric. These three terms are independent of each other and can be calculated separately. The capacitance of the feed and the term associated with radiation in the absence of the reflections can be easily evaluated. A feed with coarser detail and having the same interaction with the lens is then synthesized. This allows us to estimate the reflection from the lens efficiently, and then the different terms are recombined to estimate the total input impedance.

A time-domain model of the leaky-wave radiation from a slot is assembled via an in-depth numerical investigation. The reported numerical experiments, all making use of a strictly causal excitation, provide a practical guideline for designing leaky-lens antennas (LLAs) and, above all, cogently elucidate the causal mechanism building up the propitious electromagnetic field distribution underpinning the LLA operation.

We present an efficient method to analyze a periodic pin-patch structure, consisting of two artificial dielectric layers (ADLs) connected by vertical metal pins. ADLs are made of square metal patches in a periodic lattice and have recently been used as superstrates in antennas and arrays to enhance the bandwidth and scanning range. ADLs form an anisotropic effective medium, thus enabling a large scanning volume without supporting surface waves. However, the anisotropy increases the cross-polarization (X-pol) of the antenna in the diagonal plane. This problem can be reduced by introducing vertical metal pins in the ADL superstrate to form the pin-patch structure. The analysis method is based on a spectral method of moments (MoMs) and uses entire-domain basis functions in a hybrid Cartesian and cylindrical representation to accurately model the currents on the structure and scattering parameters under general plane-wave incidence.

According to our recent modal representation, the origin of thermal radiation can be associated to the distribution of a finite number of current sources, independent one from the other (the Degrees of Freedom). In a companion paper we have also shown that, if one is only interested in the energy radiated, the current sources can be mathematically replaced by a much larger number of equivalent sources, that are unphysical, as they are imposed to be uncorrelated at any distance and are distributed all over the volume. A classic procedure for estimating the electromagnetic energy emitted by such ensemble of energetically equivalent currents is presented. The derivation presented here can just as well be applied to another set of energetically equivalent currents, the Quantum born Rytov currents. To arrive to a final analytical expression for the radiation, multiple simplifying approximations are used. Treating the problem in transmission rather than in reception provides useful insights on their limits and applicability.

The thermal energy radiated by silicon wafers with different conductivities is characterized experimentally in the mm and sub-mm wave ranges. These samples are heated up, and the energy that they radiate thermally is captured by different horn antennas covering the frequency band between 75 and 500 GHz. The energy radiated (in the order of pW) and collected by the horn antennas is subsequently detected by zero bias Schottky diodes. The measured thermal radiated power agrees with the prediction from Planck's law for the highly doped wafers, corresponding to high conductivities. However, for low conductivities, the measurements show a descending pattern as a function of the frequency, which is not in line with expectations from Planck's law. Parallelly, we have developed a theoretical model providing a classical explanation of these results [1].

Multi-beam systems are a key technology for the high-speed links of the next-generation communication standards. Due to the stringent space constraints for allocating antennas on a platform, it is of paramount importance to assess - with respect to the physical size - the multi-beam performance of the antenna in terms of the maximum number of simultaneous orthogonal beams. This is done by resorting to the concept of the observable field, which is here extended to planar domains. Then, this concept is used to assess the multi-beam performance of a wideband phased array prototype developed for mobile communications. The Signal-to-Interference Ratio (SIR), computed from the measured radiation patterns of the prototype, is analyzed versus the frequency and the number of beams and compared to the benchmark case of an ideal antenna radiating the observable field.

We present a dual-polarized connected array of slots with an artificial dielectric layer (ADL) radome for mobile communication applications operating in the sub-6 GHz and the upper 6 GHz bands of 5G. The radiating slots are combined with two interchangeable ADL radomes with different thicknesses, targeting the bands 6-8 and 2-8 GHz, respectively. This highlights the main property of the ADL radome, which realizes an impedance transformer whose bandwidth is proportional to the height of the structure. Moreover, the ADL anisotropy allows for wide scanning, up to 60° in the main planes for both radomes, without scan blindness. An $8\,\, \times \,\, 8$ prototype array has been manufactured and tested with the two ADL radomes. The measured results of the active voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) and the radiation patterns are reported to validate the design.

A strictly causal numerical study of the pulsed operation of a weakly dispersive, leaky wave (LW) antenna is presented. The intricacies at the forefront of the electromagnetic (EM) field radiated from a gap-fed slot in a perfectly electrically conducting (PEC) sheet are evidenced for the first time. The radical effect of a free-space gap separating the PEC sheet from the dielectric half-space into which the slot radiates is demonstrated, thus providing time-domain (TD) arguments for the effectiveness of this essential element of leaky-lens antennas (LLAs). The response of the gapped structure to an excitation consisting of pulse trains is evaluated. The discussed results pave the way toward building a genuine TD counterpart of the LW radiation from gap-fed slots. Furthermore, they are conditional to understanding the transients occurring in between intervals when a steady-state, time-harmonic (TH) operation can be assumed, an extremely relevant ingredient to implementing highly complex modulations in carrier-based, wireless transfer.

A spectral domain analysis aimed at studying dipoles radiating in layered media is presented. The model allows for the modeling of the non-zero metal thickness and the reactance associated with a Δ-gap excitation. The solution can be efficiently calculated with a semi-analytical procedure, and it is linked to an equivalent circuit representation. The results show an accuracy up to par with commercial solvers regarding the input impedance and the radiated far field patterns.