Slot-Loaded Antipodal Vivaldi Antenna for a Microwave Imaging System to Monitor Liver Microwave Thermal Ablation

This study presents the design and the

experimental validation of a slot-loaded antipodal Vivaldi

antenna for a microwave imaging system to monitor liver

microwave thermal ablation. The antenna’s overall dimension

is equal to 40mmÅ~65mm, and its working bandwidth goes from

600 MHz up to 3 GHz, with the possibility to operate at a higher

frequency. The antenna is designed to operate inside a coupling

medium that allows to scale down the antenna dimensions, as

well as to improve the coupling of the electromagnetic power to

the tissue. The antenna’s S-parameters well agree with the

simulation result. Finally, the antenna proposed in this work

shows the most compact aperture dimension, as compared with

other similar antennas designed for biomedical applications,

working within the same bandwidth.