Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis of Parallel-Plate Waveguides Loaded with
Glide-Symmetric Dielectric Structures
Abstract
Recently, there has been a growing interest in dielectric antennas and
electromagnetic components based on periodic structures, since such
components can be realized using new additive manufacturing
technologies. The design of these components starts from the geometry of
the unit cell, which determines not only the value of the effective
refractive index but also the parameters of the entire considered
component, like for example, the bandwidth of operation. For this
reason, periodic structures with higher symmetry are of particular
interest, since they can exhibit a wider bandwidth and other improved
parameters. To analyze and design such components, we present a
semi-analytical method for calculating the guiding properties of
parallel-plate waveguides loaded with periodic glide-symmetric
dielectric structures. It is shown that the presence of glide-symmetry
can be simply included in the dispersion characteristic equation based
on the transverse resonance condition. Â The derived expressions reveal
that due to glide-symmetry only the Bloch-Floquet modes of the same
parity interact and contribute to the dispersion properties. The
accuracy of the discussed method is verified through the analysis of
several one-dimensional (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) structures
suitable for the design of planar lens antennas with a large frequency
band of operation.