A wideband and compact Quasi-Yagi antenna based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons

In this paper, a novel wideband end-fire antenna, based on a spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPP) transmission line, is proposed. Periodically modulated corrugated metal strips are used as a transmission line for quasi-TEM conversion in the microstrip line to the state of SSPP and the best impedance matching. Due to the strong confinement of the field in the SSPP waveguide and its high transmission performance, it has been used as a transmission line. The antenna consists of SSPP waveguides for the transmission line, a metal plate on the ground as the reflector of the antenna, a metal strip director, and two half-rings to realize the radiation, reaching a wide bandwidth in the range of 4.1 to 8.1 GHz. The simulation results show that this antenna achieves a gain of 6.5 dBi, a bandwidth of 65%, and an efficiency of 97% across a wide operating frequency band, from 4.1 to 8.1 GHz. The proposed end-fire antenna has been fabricated, and the measured results agree well with the simulated results. The end-fire antenna implemented on a dielectric layer also has the advantages of high efficiency, good directivity, high gain, a wide bandwidth, easy fabrication, and a compact size.