ELECTROMAGNETIC ANALYSIS ON PROPAGATION CHARACTERISTICS OF CRLH WAVEGUIDE LOADED WITH DOUBLE RIDGE CORRUGATIONS

The propagation characteristics of a composite right/left-handed (CRLH) waveguide loaded with air-filled double ridge corrugations (DRCs) is studied intensively in this paper. It is analyzed from the perspective of electromagnetic (EM) fields other than equivalent circuit method used by many other CRLH structures. First, the EM fields inside the CRLH waveguide are derived theoretically based on the EM fields in the rectangular waveguide and the DRC, as well as the boundary conditions on the interface, respectively. Then the propagation characteristics of the CRLH waveguide including the dispersion relation, surface current and transmitted power are determined according to the EM fields. The properties of the surface current are focused on for analyzing the application possibility of this CRLH waveguide to the leaky-wave antennas (LWAs). The transmitted power of the CRLH waveguide is calculated to demonstrate the high power capacitance of this CRLH waveguide. All the theoretical results are verified through full-wave simulations.