Patent ID: 8134521
Filing Date: 2012-03-13
Classification: H01Q

Abstract:
1. An electronically tunable microwave reflector, comprising: a ground plane, the ground plane having a ground plane surface; an array of generally flat, circular disk metal electrodes arranged in a single layer of rows and columns in a two-dimensional lattice spaced vertically from the ground plane surface by a distance less than a wavelength of microwave energy to be reflected by the reflector, the electrodes having a diameter less than said wavelength, each of the electrodes being a corresponding array of vertical three-dimensional conductor-free regions above the ground plane and between diagonal electrodes, the regions having a lattice cross-sectional area of at least one-half that of the electrodes; a plurality of variable capacitance structures arranged for controllably varying a capacitance between adjacent ones of said electrodes; a first array of conductors connecting a first set of the metal electrodes to the ground plane surface; and a second array of conductors connecting a second set of the metal electrodes to respective bias voltage sources.