An Optically Transparent Dual-Polarized Stacked Patch Antenna With Metal-Mesh Films

A wideband dual-polarized stacked patch antenna with optical transparency is proposed in this letter. The traditional metal plates are replaced by transparent conductive films made by printing metal meshes with sheet resistance of 0.5 Ω/sq to single side of polyethylene terephthalate. The planar conductive layers are separated by substrates made by transparent polymethyl methacrylate plates. The majority of the antenna area has a high optical transparency. A wide impedance bandwidth is realized by applying stacked round microstrip patches. The disk probes provide good impedance matching as well as a small occlusion area. Measurement results show the antenna exhibits an impedance bandwidth of 19% (2.4-2.9 GHz, VSWR <; 2) for both ports. The radiation efficiency is around 75%. The optical transparency is nearly 70% throughout the visible spectrum for the majority of the antenna. The antenna has a stable unidirectional radiation pattern with low cross polarization (<;-17 dB) and low back-radiation level across the operating frequency band.