An integral equation and its application to spiral antennas on semi-infinite dielectric materials

This paper presents an integral equation that can handle wire antennas on a semi-infinite dielectric material. The integral equation is reduced to a set of linear equations by the method of moments. For efficiency, the impedance matrix element Z/sub m,n/ is divided into two parts on the basis of weighted Green's function extractions. The far-zone radiation field, which is formulated using the stationary phase method, is also described. After the validity of the presented numerical techniques is checked using a bow-tie antenna, a spiral antenna is analyzed. The current distribution, radiation pattern, axial ratio, power gain, and input impedance are discussed. It is found that the radiation field inside a dielectric material is circularly polarized. As the relative permittivity of the dielectric material increases, the angle coverage over which the axial ratio is less than 3 dB becomes narrower.