Circularly Polarized Antennas

This chapter is focused on circularly polarized antennas. Key definitions and governing equations of circular polarization are given. Infinitesimal dipole sources are considered to establish circularly polarized radiation. First, radiation patterns of cross dipoles are mathematically reviewed, from which the condition of circularly polarized waves is concluded. Later, the idea is extended to four displaced sequentially rotated dipole antennas, resulting in circularly polarized waves within a wide angular range in space. The extension of the concept to the magnetic source counterparts and Huygens sources is briefly discussed. Other than point sources, also known as one-dimensional current sources, sources of circularly polarized radiation are further investigated for two-dimensional cases, such as microstrip patch antennas, and three-dimensional structures, such as volumetric current sources existing in dielectric resonator antennas. For these cases, the creation of circularly polarized radiation using single-feed and dual-feed, perturbed structures and sequentially rotated method is described. As a design example, numerical and measurement results of circularly polarized square patch ring antennas are extensively discussed and presented in this chapter. The square-ring microstrip antenna is selected as it closely approximates the sequentially rotated currents, and also it has not been widely studied in the literature.