We present an ultra-wide band planar Luneburg lens based on glide-symmetric meandered transmission lines. In order to make the structure radiate, a non-dispersive leaky-wave structure is designed. The whole structure produces a pencil beam with steering capabilities from -60° to 60° in the azimuth direction from 10 to 20 GHz.

We present an ultra-wide band planar Luneburg lens based on glide-symmetric meandered transmission lines. In order to make the structure radiate, a non-dispersive leaky-wave structure is designed. The whole structure produces a pencil beam with steering capabilities from -60 degrees to 60 degrees in the azimuth direction from 10 to 20 GHz.

In this letter, we experimentally validate the concept of bespoke lenses for the specific design of a log-spiral feed. Bespoke lenses are designed using the concept of quasi-conformal transformation optics (QCTO) to enhance the radiation properties for a given feeding. Our experimental results demonstrate that the antenna with its bespoke lens has higher gain, lower cross polarization, lower sidelobes, and lower axial ratio than that with a conventional hyperhemispherical lens.

This letter demonstrates that glide symmetry can be used to match the impedance of highly dense dielectric profiles in wide angle and broad bandwidth. Using glide-symmetric metasurfaces permits tuning the magnetic properties of materials, so high values of permittivity can be matched to free space in wideband. This matching is achieved without disturbing the performance of the device, since the refractive index remains fixed. The performance of the proposed matching method is validated through measurements for normal incidence. For oblique incidence, a hyperbolic dielectric lens is matched with glide-symmetric structures in simulations. These simulations demonstrate a smooth transmission of the fields, manifesting a well-matched profile of the lens.

In this article, we study the wave propagation in a metallic parallel-plate structure with glide-symmetric elliptical holes. To perform this study, we derived a mode-matching technique based on the generalized Floquet theorem for glide-symmetric structures. This mode-matching technique benefits from a lower computational cost since it takes advantage of the glide symmetry in the structure. It also provides physical insight into the specific properties of Floquet modes propagating in these specific structures. With our analysis, we demonstrate that glide-symmetric structures with periodic elliptical holes exhibit an anisotropic refractive index over a wide range of frequencies. The equivalent refractive index can be controlled by tuning the dimensions of the holes. Finally, by combining the anisotropy related to the elliptical holes and transformation optics, a Maxwell fish-eye (MFL) lens with a 33.33% size compression is designed. This lens operates in a wideband frequency range from 2.5 to 10 GHz.

This letter presents a method to realize anisotropic two-dimensional designs with wideband operation. Glide symmetry has been proven to increase the bandwidth and equivalent refractive index of periodic structures. Here, two anisotropic glide-symmetric unit cells are proposed and characterized. Our simulated results prove that these unit cells follow the general behavior of periodic structures possessing glide symmetry. Moreover, we demonstrate that higher level of anisotropy can also be achieved by glide symmetry. Combining our proposed anisotropic glide-symmetric unit cell and transformation optics, a 30% compressed Luneburg lens is designed. The lens operates from 1 to 13 GHz.

The new generation of wireless communication networks intends to support data rate of Gbit/s. One solution to make it possible is to move upwards in frequency range to employ the unused spectrum in ...

Transformation optics asks, using Maxwell's equations, what kind of electromagnetic medium recreates some smooth deformation of space? The guiding principle is Einstein's principle of covariance: that any physical theory must take the same form in any coordinate system. This requirement fixes very precisely the required electromagnetic medium. The impact of this insight cannot be overestimated. Many practitioners were used to thinking that only a few analytic solutions to Maxwell's equations existed, such as the monochromatic plane wave in a homogeneous, isotropic medium. At a stroke, transformation optics increases that landscape from 'few' to 'infinity', and to each of the infinitude of analytic solutions dreamt up by the researcher, there corresponds an electromagnetic medium capable of reproducing that solution precisely. The most striking example is the electromagnetic cloak, thought to be an unreachable dream of science fiction writers, but realised in the laboratory a few months after the papers proposing the possibility were published. But the practical challenges are considerable, requiring meta-media that are at once electrically and magnetically inhomogeneous and anisotropic. How far have we come since the first demonstrations over a decade ago? And what does the future hold? If the wizardry of perfect macroscopic optical invisibility still eludes us in practice, then what compromises still enable us to create interesting, useful, devices? While three-dimensional (3D) cloaking remains a significant technical challenge, much progress has been made in two dimensions. Carpet cloaking, wherein an object is hidden under a surface that appears optically flat, relaxes the constraints of extreme electromagnetic parameters. Surface wave cloaking guides sub-wavelength surface waves, making uneven surfaces appear flat. Two dimensions is also the setting in which conformal and complex coordinate transformations are realisable, and the possibilities in this restricted domain do not appear to have been exhausted yet. Beyond cloaking, the enhanced electromagnetic landscape provided by transformation optics has shown how fully analytic solutions can be found to a number of physical scenarios such as plasmonic systems used in electron energy loss spectroscopy and cathodoluminescence. Are there further fields to be enriched? A new twist to transformation optics was the extension to the spacetime domain. By applying transformations to spacetime, rather than just space, it was shown that events rather than objects could be hidden from view; transformation optics had provided a means of effectively redacting events from history. The hype quickly settled into serious nonlinear optical experiments that demonstrated the soundness of the idea, and it is now possible to consider the practical implications, particularly in optical signal processing, of having an 'interrupt-without-interrupt' facility that the so-called temporal cloak provides. Inevitable issues of dispersion in actual systems have only begun to be addressed. Now that time is included in the programme of transformation optics, it is natural to ask what role ideas from general relativity can play in shaping the future of transformation optics. Indeed, one of the earliest papers on transformation optics was provocatively titled 'General Relativity in Electrical Engineering'. The answer that curvature does not enter directly into transformation optics merely encourages us to speculate on the role of transformation optics in defining laboratory analogues. Quite why Maxwell's theory defines a 'perfect' transformation theory, while other areas of physics such as acoustics are not apparently quite so amenable, is a deep question whose precise, mathematical answer will help inform us of the extent to which similar ideas can be extended to other fields. The contributors to this Roadmap, who are all renowned practitioners or inventors of transformation optics, will give their perspectives into the field's status and future development.

In this letter, a novel cost-effective flange is proposed to prevent the leakage created by undesired air gaps between flanges of two mating waveguides. The cause of an undesired gap can be surface curvature, dirt, human mistakes, or misalignment. Our proposal consists of machining glide-symmetric holes around the waveguide aperture on the flanges. Due to the glide symmetry properties, an identical pattern of the holes is possible at both sides, thus becoming glide-symmetric when they are mated together.

We present a cost-effective solution for contact-less measurement of waveguiding structures at high frequencies. Drilling glide-symmetric holey EBG (electromagnetic band gap) on the flanges, the leakage caused by undesired air-gaps, by the result of human mistakes or instrumental errors, between the flanges can be minimized considerably and contact-less measurement becomes possible.

A wideband phase shifter in U-band realized in groove gap waveguide (GGWG) technology is presented as a good solution to be integrated in antenna feed structures. The GGWG is implemented by glide-symmetric holes to reduce manufacturing complexity. The design is also proposed to be mechanically variable by changing the height of the dielectric slab used to change the phase. Experimental results evidence the potential of this solution.

We present a novel electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure, which can be used to manufacture low-cost waveguiding structures at high frequencies. The unit cell of the proposed EBG consists of glide-symmetric holes in parallel plate waveguide. Using this unit cell in groove gap waveguide technology has a number of advantages over pin-type EBG at high frequencies, such as acquiring higher accuracy because of larger periodicity as well as an easier and cheaper manufacturing process. The performance of the proposed waveguiding structure is demonstrated using both a straight and a double 90° bent lines through simulation and measurement.

In this paper, a bespoke lens has been designed for a slot log-spiral excitation. The performance of this lens is compared with a conventional hyper-hemispherical lens. Using the bespoke lens metho ...

Here, we explain the principles of operating lens antennas, and discuss their potential application for future 5G communications systems. We discuss the connection between the nomenclature employed in the optics and microwave communities, such as the direct relationship between aberrations and directivity and side lobe levels. Furthermore, we explain the potential of two innovative techniques: transformation optics and metasurfaces. Transformation optics, and specifically the concept of bespoke lenses, can be employed to make lenses ad hoc for specific feedings. Metasurfaces can be employed to produce two-dimensional low-cost lenses that can be fully metallic, which is an advantage in terms of losses. Finally, we introduce the concept of higher symmetries that can be used to increase the bandwidth of operation of these metasurfaces lenses.

In this paper, a systematic method to design a quasi-optimum lens profile based on quasi-conformal transformation optics technique for a given excitation is presented. This method is applied to a number of conventional antennas, such as an aperture and a log-spiral slot. In all these configurations, an increase of the directivity is observed. Furthermore, using this method, a quasi-optimum graded index lens for a broadband enhanced leaky slot excitation is designed and the results are compared with a hyperhemispherical lens with and without matching layers. Our proposed methodology demonstrates to be able to increase the directivity, to reduce the sidelobes and the cross polarization in a broad bandwidth from 20 to 70 GHz. Due to the continuously changed dielectric constant of the lens profile, reflections are also reduced considerably inside the lens.

The behavior of a glide-symmetric holey periodic structure as electromagnetic bandgap is studied in this letter. A number of numerical simulations have been carried out in order to define the importance of each constituent parameter of the unit cell. Our proposed structure finds potential application in antennas and circuits based on gap waveguide technology for the millimeter band. The experimental verifications confirm the effects previously analyzed with the numerical studies.

The mode matching method for analysing two dimensional doubled corrugated metasurfaces, including glide-symmetric corrugated metasurfaces, embedded in a thin parallel plate waveguide is presented. This method is accurate, fast, and without any limitations on the parameters.