Coupling Mode Transformation-Based Dielectric Surface and Metasurface for Antenna Decoupler

In this communication, a novel hybrid decoupler is proposed to reduce mutual coupling for an extremely compact wideband stacked patch multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) array antenna. The hybrid decoupler consists of a dielectric surface and a metasurface. By using a well-designed dielectric surface, the mode of mutual coupling current on the unexcited antenna can become orthogonal to its polarization mode. Moreover, the electrical distance of coupling wave propagation between two elements is prolonged. Antenna decoupling is naturally achieved. Then, the metasurface, which can reject coupling wave propagation, is a complementary method to further improve isolation. Dielectric rod array is designed by partially hollowing the dielectric surface, which can realize optimized dielectric constant of the slab and better combine two decoupling methods. A broadband stacked patch array antenna is chosen as a demonstration to prove that this idea can achieve wide isolation improved bandwidth, as well as high isolation improved degree. Measured results reveal that isolation enhancement ranges from 6 to 21 dB in the frequency band from 1.83 to 2.17 GHz.