Gradient Relative Permittivity Superstrate for Decoupling of Two Closely Located Dual-Polarized Slot Antennas

A simple decoupling method between two closely located dual-polarized slot antennas is proposed in this communication. Based on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW), the dual-polarized antenna is realized using cross-shaped slot and U-shaped feed line, and two identical elements are closely located in edge-to-edge space of only $0.031\lambda _{0}$ to form the multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) array, where $\lambda _{0}$ is the free-space wavelength at the center operating frequency. Wideband characteristics, high dual-polarized isolation, and low envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) are realized by introducing a superstrate with gradient relative permittivity (GRP) above the array. The GRP is obtained using drilling hole arrays on low-cost FR-4 materials. To validate the proposed design, the antenna array is fabricated and measured. The measured result shows that 13 and 16 dB isolation enhancements are provided for two orthogonally polarized fields, simultaneously. Moreover, the measured operating bandwidth is from 8 to 10.35 GHz (about 25.6%, the isolation is more than 20 dB), and the ECC between two antennas is less than −52 dB for $E_{1}$ -pol and −62.4 dB for $E_{2}$ -pol over entire operating band. The proposed method has the potential to be used in MIMO wireless systems.