A Simplified and Cost-Effective Fiber Laser Fabrication Method for Designing Wideband Multi-Layer Fabry-Perot/Leaky-Wave Antenna with Complementary PRS

In this article, we present a simplified, fast, cost-effective, and precise fabrication method for designing multi-layer leaky-wave/Fabry-Perot antennas (LWAs/FPAs). Traditionally, these antennas are fabricated using existing techniques such as lithography, LPKF laser, and 3D printing. The proposed antenna design features a pair of complementary partially reflective surfaces (PRSs) printed on either side of a low-cost plastic substrate. This substrate is positioned over an air cavity backed by a metallic ground plane, which includes a slot to accommodate waveguide feeding. The proposed FPA achieves a high gain of approximately 14 dBi across a wide operating frequency range (20-21.86 GHz), with excellent impedance matching characterized by an S11 level below -10 dB. The antenna is fabricated using a fiber laser fabrication method, which is a simple, efficient, and fast process, taking less than a minute to create the periodic patterns for the desired samples. Finally, its simulation results are validated through multiple measurements conducted on various samples.