An L-Band Leaky-Wave Array Antenna for High Power Microwave Applications

This work seeks a novel design for a compact leaky-wave array antenna for high-power microwave (HPM) applications. The leaky-wave waveguide antenna is made of rectangular waveguide with groups of non-resonant closely-spaced slots in the waveguide’s broad-wall. By this means, more slots can be set in a unit length with lower radiation power through each slot, then higher power-handling capacity and a compact longitudinal dimension and height can be achieved. An L-band leaky-wave waveguide antenna centered at 1.57 GHz has been designed and experimentally studied. The results show that the radiation efficiency of the antenna is more than 97% and the power-handling capacity of a single waveguide exceeds 1.3 GW. In addition, a 5-waveguide array antenna was also designed. The array antenna has an aperture efficiency of 76.6% and the beam scanning range can reach ±40° in H-plane, which would be suitable for many HPM applications.