A Low-Cost Metal-Only Reflectarray Using Modified Slot-Type Phoenix Element With 360° Phase Coverage

A novel slot-type phoenix element is proposed for low-cost metal-only reflectarray designs. Due to its unique rebirth capability, a full 360° phase coverage is obtained by the proposed phasing element, which can effectively resolve the phase range limitation commonly seen in slot-type metal-only reflectarray elements. A Ku-band offset-fed reflectarray prototype with a circular aperture of 516 mm in diameter is designed, fabricated, and tested for verification. The measured gain is 33.9 dBi at 12.5 GHz with the aperture efficiency of 53.8%, and the 1-dB gain bandwidth is 12.8%. The proposed metal-only reflectarray achieves good radiation performance and is suitable for high-gain antenna applications with stringent requirements on cost and/or working environment.