Experimental Evaluation of the Phase of the Field Scattered by Microstrip Patches for Reflectarray Design

The determination of the phase of the field scattered from microstrip patches is a key factor in the design of reflect-array antennas. Although the problem has been treated in a number of theoretical articles, an experimental characterization of a such an important parameter has never been considered. In this Letter an experimental study of the phase of the field reradiated from small arrays of patches is presented. As a result a diagram of the phase of the scattered field versus the size of the patches is obtained. Results have been compared with the ones obtained with a commercial MoM package