Feed corrective lenslets for enhanced beamscan in flat lens antenna systems

A method for improving beamscan performance of flat lens antenna systems is proposed, wherein small gradient index (GRIN) lenses are included in the feed apertures to correct spillover losses and improve scan collimation. Given a lens system with a flat feed surface, these feed-corrective-lenslets (FCLs) sit in the apertures of offset feed elements and squint the feed pattern toward the center of the lens, reducing spillover radiation and increasing gain at scan. Furthermore, the FCLs shift the effective phase center of the feed to be closer to the Petzval surface, improving scanned collimation and enhancing beam angle. A GRIN lens and FCLs for three offset positions are designed, fabricated and demonstrated in the Ku-band. The FCLs improve the gain of the scanned beam by up to 2 dB out to 50', reducing the scan loss exponent from 5.0 to 2.5 at 18 GHz. (C) 2022 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement