An iteratively refined circuital model of CRLH leaky-wave antennas derived from the mushroom structure

Metamaterial leaky-wave antennas (LWAs), which operate in their fundamental guided mode (¿ = 0), have grown in popularity thanks to their full-space scanning possibilities [1]. Several technologies can be employed to practically implement this type of antennas, such us microstrip, CPW, CPS or mushroom-like periodically loaded waveguides [2]. In order to analyze these structures, equivalent circuit models may be used [1]. These models are able to accurately compute the propagation constant of the structure under analysis, but have some difficulties to obtain the radiation characteristics. Usually, time-consuming full-wave simulations are required for this last step. In this paper, a novel and efficient modal-based iterative circuital model is presented for the accurate analysis of the complex propagation constant related to mushroom-like CRLH LWAs. © 2010 IEEE.