Design and analysis of a novel variable polarization corner reflector

In this paper, a novel polarization adjustable corner reflector integrated with the polarization grid is proposed. By loading the variable polarization grid on the metal panel of the metal corner reflector, the scattering characteristics and polarization states of the corner reflector can be flexibly modulated. Taking the square trihedral corner reflector loading with a circular polarization grating over the inner wall of the square trihedral corner reflector as an example, the polarization characteristics of the echo scattering field under normal incidence and wide-angle incidence are analyzed respectively. The simulation results show that the scattering field of the designed variable polarization corner reflector has a significant polarization response with the rotation of the polarization grating, which is approximately in the shape of “8” on the Poincaré sphere, and the polarization states undergo vertical linear polarization, left-handed elliptical polarization, horizontal linear polarization and right-handed elliptical polarization in turn. In addition, for the specific rotation angle, the scattered electromagnetic echoes modulated by the variable corner reflector also show regional differences in the aperture. The variable polarization corner reflector proposed in this paper is processed and assembled, and the experiment is carried out in the anechoic chamber. The test data validates that the variable polarization corner reflector has the ability of modulating polarization in both time and space domains, and has bright application prospects in radar countermeasures.