Skip to main content
Journal cover image

X-band SAR imaging with a liquid-crystal-based dynamic metasurface antenna

Publication ,  Journal Article
Watts, CM; Pedross-Engel, A; Smith, DR; Reynolds, MS
Published in: Journal of the Optical Society of America B: Optical Physics
February 1, 2017

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) synthesizes a large effective aperture via coherent processing of multiple measurements taken from a moving platform. We present an approach for SAR imaging using an X-band (10-13.7 GHz) dynamic metasurface antenna (MSA). This newly developed antenna has over 6000 liquid-crystal-switched radiating elements that cover a circular area with an approximate diameter of 0.45 m. The MSA's main beam can be steered electronically to spherical angles of up to ±70°. To the best of our knowledge, we present the first-reported laboratory-scale imaging experiments with a liquid-crystal-switched MSA. We leverage the beam-steering capabilities of the MSA in a spotlight SAR mode to achieve a measured cross-range resolution of 1.6 cm, a 62% improvement over the 4.2 cm cross-range resolution achieved with the same aperture without the metasurface-enabled beam steering. The dynamic MSA offers the superior image resolution of a beam-steering device without the hardware burden of conventional phased array antennas.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Journal of the Optical Society of America B: Optical Physics

DOI

EISSN

1520-8540

ISSN

0740-3224

Publication Date

February 1, 2017

Volume

34

Issue

2

Start / End Page

300 / 306

Related Subject Headings

  • Optics
  • 5108 Quantum physics
  • 5102 Atomic, molecular and optical physics
  • 4008 Electrical engineering
  • 0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • 0205 Optical Physics
  • 0102 Applied Mathematics
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Watts, C. M., Pedross-Engel, A., Smith, D. R., & Reynolds, M. S. (2017). X-band SAR imaging with a liquid-crystal-based dynamic metasurface antenna. Journal of the Optical Society of America B: Optical Physics, 34(2), 300–306. https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.34.000300
Watts, C. M., A. Pedross-Engel, D. R. Smith, and M. S. Reynolds. “X-band SAR imaging with a liquid-crystal-based dynamic metasurface antenna.” Journal of the Optical Society of America B: Optical Physics 34, no. 2 (February 1, 2017): 300–306. https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.34.000300.
Watts CM, Pedross-Engel A, Smith DR, Reynolds MS. X-band SAR imaging with a liquid-crystal-based dynamic metasurface antenna. Journal of the Optical Society of America B: Optical Physics. 2017 Feb 1;34(2):300–6.
Watts, C. M., et al. “X-band SAR imaging with a liquid-crystal-based dynamic metasurface antenna.” Journal of the Optical Society of America B: Optical Physics, vol. 34, no. 2, Feb. 2017, pp. 300–06. Scopus, doi:10.1364/JOSAB.34.000300.
Watts CM, Pedross-Engel A, Smith DR, Reynolds MS. X-band SAR imaging with a liquid-crystal-based dynamic metasurface antenna. Journal of the Optical Society of America B: Optical Physics. 2017 Feb 1;34(2):300–306.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of the Optical Society of America B: Optical Physics

DOI

EISSN

1520-8540

ISSN

0740-3224

Publication Date

February 1, 2017

Volume

34

Issue

2

Start / End Page

300 / 306

Related Subject Headings

  • Optics
  • 5108 Quantum physics
  • 5102 Atomic, molecular and optical physics
  • 4008 Electrical engineering
  • 0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • 0205 Optical Physics
  • 0102 Applied Mathematics