A Dual-Circularly Polarized Magneto-Electric Dipole Reflectarray With Independent Beam Control

A wideband dual-circularly polarized (dual-CP) magneto-electric (ME) dipole reflectarray with independent beam control is reported. A dual-CP phase shifting unit cell is proposed to provide independent phase manipulation on the two CP waves. For proof, a 2×2 bit reflectarray operating at X-band with 16×16 elements is developed with different beam directions. The results show that the peak gain of the prototype is up to 23.85 dBic at 10.5 GHz with an aperture efficiency of 30.2%. The joint bandwidth for the 3-dB AR and 3-dB gain is around 22.5% (9.25-11.5 GHz). With advantages of wide operating bandwidth and independent beam control, the proposed dual-CP reflectarray would be an attractive candidate for satellite communication.