Dual-Polarized Folded Reflectarray Antenna With Active Components

This study demonstrates a novel dual-polarized folded reflectarray (DP-FRA) integrated with active components. Conventional FRA consists of three parts: the upper single polarizer grid that lets only a single polarized wave transmit while reflecting the orthogonal one; the bottom metasurface that can convert the x -( y -) into y -( x -) polarized wave, at the same time, compensating the phase due to the path difference from the antenna source; and a feeding source. For the proposed DP-FRA, the upper metasurface unit is composed of three metal layers. The top and bottom metal patches are the same, each integrated with two PIN diodes, one along the x and another along the y-direction. A metal patch with a crossed slot is developed in the middle for transmission efficiency improvement. A magnetoelectric dipole is designed as the dual-polarized feeding source. The final FRA can achieve a maximum gain of 16.4 dBi, 30% aperture efficiency, and work for dual-polarization operation. It provides a good platform for multifunctional integration.