This letter presents a waveguide-based linearly polarized magnetoelectric (ME) dipole antenna. The magnetic and electric dipoles are realized by a waveguide aperture and a pair of rectangular patches, respectively. The antenna employs a 3-D printing technique as the manufacturing method. Compared to the conventional ME dipole designs that operate in microwave band, the proposed antenna has a novel structure and exhibits simplified fabrication process. In order to realize the metallic walls of the waveguide structure, a two-step metal deposition technique (sputtering and electroplating) is used to coat the dielectric with copper. To validate the design idea, a prototype is designed and fabricated in X-band for demonstration. Through experiments, it is found that the proposed antenna can achieve a wide impedance bandwidth of 46.8${\%}$ from 7.2 to 11.6 GHz and a stable gain of 5.4 $\pm$ 1.2 dBi. While the antenna has stable patterns, low cross-polarization and backlobe radiation over the operating frequency band as well.

中文翻译：

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一种基于 3D 打印波导的线极化磁电偶极天线

这封信介绍了一种基于波导的线性极化磁电 (ME) 偶极天线。磁偶极子和电偶极子分别由波导孔径和一对矩形贴片实现。天线采用 3D 打印技术作为制造方法。与在微波频段工作的传统 ME 偶极子设计相比，所提出的天线具有新颖的结构并展示了简化的制造过程。为了实现波导结构的金属壁，使用两步金属沉积技术（溅射和电镀）用铜涂覆电介质。为了验证设计思想，在 X 波段设计和制造了一个原型用于演示。通过实验发现，所提出的天线可以实现46.8的宽阻抗带宽${\%}$ 从 7.2 到 11.6 GHz，稳定增益为 5.4 $\下午$1.2 分贝。虽然天线在工作频带上具有稳定的模式、低交叉极化和背瓣辐射。