Several configurations of millimeter wave Gaussian Beam Antennas (GBAs) are studied in this paper. A GBA is a quasi-planar radiating structure comprising a plano-convex half-wavelength Fabry-Perot (FP) resonator excited by a guided source or by a printed source. Both partially transparent mirrors of the resonator are formed with two-dimensional metal meshes. GBAs have very low side lobes, because of the gaussian distribution of the aperture electric field. They can be efficiently used in Wireless Local Area Networks in the 60 GHz band. After a brief presentation of intrinsic properties of FP cavities illuminated by a plane wave under normal incidence, performances of four passive GBAs are described and compared to theoretical results: the first two configurations concern cavities fed either by a waveguide (GBA#1), or by a pyramidal horn antenna (GBA#2); in the last two ones, the cavities are excited by a linearly polarized microstrip patch antenna (GBA#3), or by a coaxial-probe circularly polarized antenna array (GBA#4). These various examples enable to deduce and to compare typical radiation performances of GBAs, depending on (i) the feeding technique (planar or guided), on (ii) the geometry of the FP resonator (radius of curvature, grid parameters) and on (iii) the polarization (linear or circular). In particular, for a planar primary source, it is shown that the directivity and the efficiency of GBAs are respectively in the range [15.5 dB-23.5 dB] and [20%-50%], if power reflectivities of both mirrors are higher than 96.5% and lower than 99.5%, and if the radius of curvature of the cavity varies between 30λ0 and 1600λ0.

The Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method has been applied to study the scattering characteristics of Fabry-Perot cavities with infinite planar periodic surfaces. Periodic Boundary Conditions (PBC) are used to reduce the analysis to one unit periodic volume. Both dielectric and metallic losses are included in the algorithm using a frequency dependent formalism. This technique is used to study the frequency response of plane parallel Fabry-Perot cavities with square aperture metal mesh mirrors. These cavities are assumed to be illuminated by a normally incident plane wave. After a detailed description of the algorithm, we show theoretically the separate effects of dielectric and metal losses on the transmission coefficient of such cavities. We compare also simulation results to measurements, in the 60 GHz band, of resonant frequencies and Q factors of cavities with various mesh parameters.