Reactive near field reflection characteristics of commercial RF absorbers are investigated to determine the minimum size of a reactive-field anechoic box necessary for measuring the reactive near field of an ESPAR antenna. The reflectivity of the absorber placed in close proximity to an antenna is inversely proportional to the distance between the antenna and the absorber. For carbon filled urethane foam tapered absorbers, we find that the backscattered reflection characteristics mainly depend on their tapered height rather than the thickness of absorber base. As a result, we show that carbon filled urethane foam pyramidal and wave surface shaped absorbers can be used to make reactive-field anechoic boxes. A prototype of a reactive-field anechoic box is presented and the distance from the absorber to the antenna is reduced to a wavelength. The prototype is verified by comparing its performance with that obtained from a large anechoic chamber.

Harmonic distortions of a recently developed lightweight film-type ESPAR (Electronically Steerable Passive Array Radiator) antenna are investigated experimentally. These distortions arise from the nonlinearity of the varactor diodes that are directly integrated with the parasitic radiator elements to control the antenna's radiation pattern. A reactive-near-field measurement technique that employs low-interference probes in an ultra-small anechoic box is used to reduce experimental time and cost. An anti-series varactor pair is introduced and compared with the conventional single varactor. Consequently, an ESPAR antenna equipped with the anti-series varactor pair exhibits remarkable suppression of nonlinear distortion. In particular, the second- and the third-order harmonic is reduced by approximately 20 dB and 12 dB from the level of a single varactor type ESPAR antenna, respectively.