Resonant Meta-Surface Superstrate for Single and Multifrequency Dipole Antenna Arrays

The design of a multifrequency dipole antenna array based on a resonant meta-surface superstrate is proposed. The behavior of a single element that is closely placed to a meta-surface is experimentally investigated. The proposed meta-surface is based on resonating unit cells formed by capacitively loaded strips and split ring resonators. By tuning a dipole antenna to the pass band of the meta-surface, the physical area is effectively illuminated enhancing the radiation performance. The gain, radiation efficiency and effective area values of the whole configuration are compared to the ones obtained with a single dipole without superstrate. Radiation efficiency values for the proposed configuration of more than 80% and gain values of more than 4.5 plusmn 1 dB are obtained. Based on this configuration, simulated results of a multifrequency antenna array are presented. Distinctive features of this configuration are high isolation between elements (20 dB for a distance of lambda₀/4), and low back radiation.