CRLH leaky wave antenna with tunable polarization

A novel reconfigurable LWA that takes advantage of the characteristics of Composite Right Left Handed (CRLH) materials to achieve polarization reconfigurability is presented in this paper. The antenna polarization can be continuously changed from linear to circular varying the propagation constant of the CRLH transmission line while radiating in broadside direction. The antenna has frequency dependent polarization reconfigurability, however by properly loading the LWA with variable capacitors frequency independent polarization reconfigurability is achieved. Simulated radiation patterns show that the proposed antenna design exhibits consistent gain for all its configurations.