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REDUCTION OF CROSS-POLARIZATION IN OFFSET REFLECTARRAYS USING TWO LAYERS OF VARYING-SIZED PATCHES C. Tienda, 1 Jose A. Encinar, 1 M. Barba, 1 and M. Arrebola 2 1 Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, ETSI Telecomunicacion, Ciudad Universitaria s/n 28040 Madrid, Spain; Corresponding author: ctienda@etc.upm.es 2 Department of Electrical Engineering, Universidad de Oviedo Campus Universitario s/n, E-33203, Gij on (Asturias), Spain; arrebola@tsc.uniovi.es Received 13 January 2012 ABSTRACT: An offset-fed reflectarray demonstrator with reduced cross-polarization has been designed, manufactured, and tested. It is demonstrated that the cross-polarization is significantly reduced by using two layers of varying-sized patches and adjusting the patch dimensions not only to shape the beam in dual-linear polarization but also to produce a cancellation of the cross-polarized reflected field in those zones in which the maximum cross-polarization is produced. The proposed technique provides a reduction better than 5 dB in the cross- polarization for both linear polarizations. The measured radiation patterns are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions, and show a cross-polar discrimination better than 30 dB in the 12.97–14.25 GHz frequency band. V C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 54:2449–2454, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.27106 Key words: antennas; reflectarrays; low cross-polarization 1. INTRODUCTION Reflectarray antennas have demonstrated their capabilities to pro- vide high-gain focused beams in large apertures [1] and produce very accurate contoured beams for direct broadcast satellite (DBS) antennas using a flat sandwich with appropriately opti- mized printed patches [2–4]. Contoured beams can be easily gen- erated using reflectarrays by implementing an appropriate phase- shift on the reflectarray elements and using printed circuit tech- nology and conventional sandwich manufacturing processes [4]. The manufacturing costs are much lower than in conventional shaped reflectors due to the elimination of the custom moulds. Reflectarrays provide lower cross-polarization than offset reflector antennas, mainly because they are flat. Cross-polariza- tion is in the order 30 dB below the maximum for a focused beam reflectarray. However, in the case of contoured beams, the absolute level of cross-polarization remains practically the same, but the antenna gain is reduced to fulfill the contour Figure 6 Laser output power at different pressure for 150 mW pump power over 60 min DOI 10.1002/mop MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 54, No. 11, November 2012 2449