Surface-Wave Waveguides

We present simulations and measurements of surface-wave waveguides (SWGs) for guiding surface waves (SWs) along a constrained path. In its simplest form, the SWG is a two-dimensional analog to a dielectric waveguide where a low-index material surrounds a high-index material. The most common method for realizing materials with differing SW index is to use a grid of metallic patches of varying size on a dielectric substrate. Using asymmetric patches results in a tensor SW index. We show simulations of how the phase front of the guided surface wave can be precisely controlled using a combination of SW-index grading and rotation of the SW-index tensor. We present measurements of straight and curved SWGs showing how SWG width and curvature affect guiding properties.