Electromagnetic beam steering antenna

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10411343-B2
Application number	US-201715401223-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 9, 2017
Priority date	Jul 20, 2015
Publication date	Sep 10, 2019
Grant date	Sep 10, 2019

Abstract

Described embodiments include an electromagnetic beam steering apparatus. The apparatus includes a first planar component including a first artificially structured effective media having a first tangential refractive index gradient configured to deflect incident electromagnetic beams at a first deflection angle. The apparatus includes a second planar component includes a second artificially structured effective media having a second tangential refractive index gradient configured to deflect incident electromagnetic beams at a second deflection angle. The apparatus includes an electromagnetic beam steering structure configured to independently rotate the first planar component and the second planar component about a coaxial axis such that an electromagnetic beam incident on the first planar component exits the second planar component as a steered electromagnetic beam.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electromagnetic beam steering apparatus comprising:
a first planar component including a first artificially structured effective media having a first tangential refractive index gradient configured to deflect incident electromagnetic beams at a first deflection angle;
a second planar component including a second artificially structured effective media having a second tangential refractive index gradient configured to deflect incident electromagnetic beams at a second deflection angle; and
an electromagnetic beam steering structure configured to rotate the first planar component and the second planar component about a coaxial axis independently of each other, such that an electromagnetic beam incident on the first planar component exits the second planar component as a steered electromagnetic beam;
wherein the first artificially structured effective media includes a first composite structure, the first composite structure including a first refractive subcomponent having a first tangential refractive index gradient configured to deflect electromagnetic beams at a first sub-deflection angle and a second refractive subcomponent having a second tangential refractive index gradient configured to deflect the first deflected incident electromagnetic beams at a second sub-deflection angle.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first planar component includes two opposed generally planar and parallel major surfaces and a thickness of less than the free-space wavelength of the electromagnetic beam.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein a planar surface of the two opposed generally planar and parallel major surfaces has a radius of curvature that is large relative to the thickness.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein a major surface of the first planar component includes a generally or substantially flat major surface.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a receiving or transmitting surface of the first planar component includes an arbitrary surface approximating a flat surface.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tangential refractive index gradient of the first planar component includes a tangential refractive index gradient coplanar with the first planar component.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first planar component and the second planar component each have a thickness less than the free-space wavelength of the incident electromagnetic beam.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first tangential refractive index gradient is configured to create a linearly varying propagation delay.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first artificially structured effective media includes negative permittivity or negative permeability constituent material.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first artificially structured effective media includes artificially structured subwavelength electromagnetic unit cells.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first artificially structured effective media includes artificially structured subwavelength metamaterial unit cells.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first artificially structured effective media includes an artificially structured metasurface or meta-interface.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first artificially structured effective media includes a first planar scattering component having the tangential refractive index gradient.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second artificially structured effective media includes a second composite structure, the second composite structure including a third tangential refractive index gradient configured to deflect electromagnetic beams incident on the second composite structure at a third sub-deflection angle and a fourth refractive subcomponent having a fourth tangential refractive index gradient configured to deflect the third deflected incident electromagnetic beam at a fourth sub-deflection angle.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first artificially structured effective media includes an effective negative permittivity or negative permeability media.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first artificially structured effective media has a first achromatic tangential refractive index gradient deflecting electromagnetic beams at a first deflection angle over a finite range of wavelengths.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first artificially structured effective media and the second artificially structured effective media each respectively have an engineered dispersion compensation for an angular deflection variation as a function of frequency producing an achromatic response over a finite range of electromagnetic beam wavelengths.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first artificially structured effective media has a first piecewise linear refractive index configured to deflect electromagnetic beams at the first deflection angle.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the first piecewise linear refractive index includes a first spacewise dependent index of refraction.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the first tangential piecewise linear refraction index includes a linearly varying gradient index transverse to the plane of the first planar component.

21. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second artificially structured effective media has a second piecewise linear refractive index configured to deflect electromagnetic beams at the second deflection angle.

22. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first planar component includes a first artificially structured effective media having an electronically-selectable tangential refractive index gradient configured to deflect electromagnetic beams at a first selectable deflection angle if in a first selected state and configured to deflect electromagnetic beams at a second selectable deflection angle if in a second selected state.

23. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic beam steering structure includes an electronically controlled electromagnetic beam steering structure.

24. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic beam steering structure is configured to independently and physically rotate or counter rotate the first planar component and the second planar component about the coaxial axis normal to a respective major surface of the first planar component and of the second planar component.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the electromagnetic beam steering structure is configured to rotate the first planar component and the second planar component about the coaxial axis while maintaining an electromagnetic beam path through the first planar component and the second planar component.

26. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the coaxial axis includes a coaxial axis rotationally symmetric and coaxial to each of the planar components.

27. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first planar component and the second planar component are each arranged in the electromagnetic beam steering structure with their beam receiving faces parallel to each other and normal to the coaxial axis.

28. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic beam incident on the first planar component exits the second planar component as a steered electromagnetic beam having a direction that is a vector sum of the first deflection angle of the first planar component and the second deflection angle of the second

Assignees

• Elwha Llc

Inventors

• Driscoll Tom
• Hyde Roderick A
• Ishikawa Muriel Y
• Kare Jordin T
• Myhrvold Nathan P
• Pan Tony S
• Tegreene Clarence T
• Urzhumov Yaroslav A
• Wood Jr Lowell L
• Wood Victoria Y H

Classifications

• G02B26/0875

  by means of one or more refracting elements · CPC title

• H01Q3/14 Primary

  for varying the relative position of primary active element and a refracting or diffracting device · CPC title

• H01Q15/02

  Refracting or diffracting devices, e.g. lens, prism · CPC title

• G02F2203/24

  beam steering · CPC title

• G02B5/1809

  with pitch less than or comparable to the wavelength · CPC title