Efficient Conformal Retrodirective Metagrating Operating Simultaneously at Multiple Azimuthal Angles

Abstract

This paper presents a conformal retrodirective metagrating with multi-azimuthal-angle operating ability. First, a flat metagrating composed of a periodic array of single rectangular patch elements, two-layer stacked substrates, and a ground plane is implemented to achieve one-directional retroreflection at a specific angle. The elevation angle of the retroreflection is manipulated by precisely tuning the value of the period. To control the energy coupling to the retrodirective mode, the dimensions of the length and width of the rectangular patch are investigated under the effect of changing the substrate thickness. Three values of the length, width, and thickness are then chosen to obtain a high retroreflection power efficiency. Next, to create a conformal design operating simultaneously at multiple azimuthal angles, the rectangular patch array using a flexible ultrathin guiding layer is conformed to a dielectric cylindrical substrate backed by a perfect electric conductor ground plane. Furthermore, to further optimize the retroreflection efficiency, two circular metallic plates are added at the two ends of the cylindrical substrate to eliminate the specular reflection inside the space of the cylinder. The measured radar cross-section shows a power efficiency of the retrodirective metagrating of approximately 91% and 93% for 30 degrees retrodirected elevation angle at the azimuthal angles of 0 degrees and 90 degrees, respectively, at 5.8 GHz.