3d Printed Lattices with Spatially Variant Self-collimation

In this work, results are given for controlling waves arbitrarily inside a lattice with spatially variant self-collimation. To demonstrate the concept, an unguided beam was made to flow around a 90◦ bend without scattering due to the bend or the spatial variance. Control of the field was achieved by spatially varying the orientation of the unit cells throughout a self-collimating photonic crystal, but in a manner that almost completely eliminated deformations to the size and shape of the unit cells. The device was all-dielectric, monolithic, and made from an ordinary dielectric with low relative permittivity (εr = 2.45). It was manufactured by fused deposition modeling, a form of 3D printing, and its performance confirmed experimentally at around 15 GHz.