Open AccessOptically transparent frequency‐agile antenna for X‐band applications
Author(s) -
Martin A.,
Castel X.,
Lafond O.,
Himdi M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
electronics letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.375
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1350-911X
pISSN - 0013-5194
DOI - 10.1049/el.2015.1203
Subject(s) - varicap , materials science , optics , optoelectronics , antenna (radio) , opacity , coaxial antenna , microstrip antenna , electrical engineering , physics , engineering , capacitance , electrode , quantum mechanics
The performance of an optically transparent and frequency‐agile antenna operating from 8.8 to 9.8 GHz is reported. The transparent square‐loop coplanar antenna is made of a mesh silver film printed onto a glass substrate. A high level of transparency ( T > 80%) and low sheet resistance ( Rs < 0.2 Ω/sq) are achieved from such a material. Antenna tunability is provided by a surface mounted beam‐lead varactor which is invisible to the naked eye. The microwave performance of such an antenna is reported, discussed and compared with that of a reference counterpart made of a continuous silver layer (and thus totally opaque). The optically transparent frequency‐agile antenna exhibits gain values ranging from 1 to 3.5 dBi with 10.8% of frequency tunability.