Ultra-wideband Linear-to-Circular Polarization Conversion Realized by an 8-shaped Metasurface

In this work, one 8-shaped metasurface (MS) is proposed, which consists of a square array of 8-shaped conducting patches printed on a grounded dielectric substrate and covered by a top dielectric layer. Because the MS is symmetric with respect to both the x - and y -axes, and the phase difference between the reflection coefficients r xx and r yy is close to + 90° in an ultra-wide frequency band, it can be used as an ultra-wideband linear-to-circular polarization converter. Simulation results show that the MS can realize high-efficiency and ultra-wideband linear-to-circular polarization conversion under both u - and v -polarized incidences; the axial ratio (AR) of the reflected wave is below 3 dB in the ultra-wide frequency band of 6.45–24.20 GHz, which is corresponding to a relative bandwidth of 116%; in addition, the polarization conversion rate (PCR) can be maintained larger than 99.5% in the frequency range of 6.78–23.70 GHz, which occupies 95.3% of the 3 dB-axial-ratio-band. Finally, an experimental verification is carried out, a good agreement between the experimental and simulation results is observed.