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Broadband and conformal metamaterial absorber

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Abstract

In this study, a new broadband and conformal metamaterial absorber using two flexible substrates was proposed. Simulation results showed that the proposed absorber exhibited an absorption band from 6.08 to 13.04 GHz and a high absorption of 90%, because it was planar. The absorber was broadband as its relative absorption bandwidth was 72.8%. Moreover, the proposed absorber was insensitive to the polarization of the TE and TM waves. The absorber was ultra-thin; its total thickness was only 0.07l at the lowest operating frequency. Furthermore, different regions of absorption can be adjusted by lumping and loading two resistors onto the polyimide film, respectively. Moreover, compared with the conventional microwave absorber, the absorption bandwidth of the proposed absorber can be broadened and enhanced when it was bent and conformed to the surface of objects. Experimental and simulation results were in agreement. The proposed absorber is a promising absorbing element in scientific and technical applications because of its broadband absorption, polarization insensitivity, and flexible substrates.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. NJ20160008), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61471368), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China (No. BK20150757), the Open Research Program in China’s State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves (No. K201609), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2016M601802), and the Jiangsu Planned Projects for Postdoctoral Research Funds (No. 1601009B).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Radar Imaging and Microwave Photonics, Ministry of Education, College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 210016, China

    Xiangkun Kong, Junyi Xu & Shaobin Liu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China

    Xiangkun Kong

  3. College of Electronic Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, 410073, China

    Jin-jun Mo

Authors
  1. Xiangkun Kong
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  2. Junyi Xu
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  3. Jin-jun Mo
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  4. Shaobin Liu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiangkun Kong.

Additional information

Xiangkun Kong received the Ph.D. degree in communication and information systems from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) in 2015. He has been an associate professor in NUAA since his promotion in July 2015. Currently, he is working at the University of St. Andrews in the UK as an academic visitor supported by China Scholarship Council. His main research interests include the plasma stealth, plasma photonic crystal, electromagnetic properties of metamaterials, and computational electromagnetics. He has published more than 60 papers in different academic journals, including Applied Physics Letters, Optics Express, and IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, and has been cited 1099 times.

Junyi Xu received the M.S. degree from the College of Electronic and Information Engineering of the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2015. She is currently working as an engineer in NARI Technology Development Co. at Nanjing. She specializes in flexible metamaterial devices.

Jinjun Mo received the B.Eng., M.Eng., and Ph.D. degrees from the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), China in 1997, 2000, and 2004, respectively, all in electronic engineering. He was a visiting researcher in the University of Montreal, Canada from 2011 to 2012. He is currently an associate professor at the College of Electronic Science and Engineering of the NUDT. His research interests include scattering problems, computational electromagnetics, and plasma application.

Shaobin Liu received the Ph.D. degree in electronics science and technology from the National University of Defense Technology in 2004. However, in 2003, he was already promoted as professor. He is currently a professor of electromagnetic and microwave technology at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His research focuses on plasma stealthy antennas, microwave, radio frequency, electromagnetic compatibility.

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Kong, X., Xu, J., Mo, Jj. et al. Broadband and conformal metamaterial absorber. Front. Optoelectron. 10, 124–131 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-017-0682-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-017-0682-z

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