Babinet principle applied to the design of metasurfaces and metamaterials

The electromagnetic theory of diffraction and the Babinet principle are applied to the design of artificial metasurfaces and metamaterials. A new particle, the complementary split rings resonator, is proposed for the design of metasurfaces with high frequency selectivity and planar metamaterials with a negative dielectric permittivity. Applications in the fields of frequency selective surfaces and polarizers, as well as in microwave antennas and filter design, can be envisaged. The tunability of all these devices by an applied dc voltage is also achievable if these particles are etched on the appropriate substrate.     

基于电磁超表面的透镜成像技术研究进展

电磁超表面属于超材料的一种,是由许多亚波长纳米结构单元组成的二维功能性平面结构.根据惠更斯原理,超表面阵列可以任意调控光波的相位、振幅和偏振.与传统器件相比,基于这种超材料设计的光学功能器件最大的优势是其具有极薄的厚度.本文首先介绍了广义斯涅耳定律以及纳米单元结构调控相位的基本原理,重点归纳了电磁超表面在透镜成像技术方面的研究进展,包括等离子体超表面、全介质超表面以及金属/介质混合式超表面在成像方面的应用,最后指出了超表面在成像方面尚未解决的前沿问题以及与实际应用接轨的重要问题,希望能为以后的深入研究提供一定的参考和借鉴.     

超构天线:原理、器件与应用

自从电磁波被发现和应用以来,利用各种材料或者结构调节电磁波的辐射行为、构造高性能的电磁辐射器件一直是研究人员的追求目标.经过百余年的发展,电磁辐射器件的方向性提高、带宽拓展等技术逐渐达到瓶颈.受自然材料电磁特性的限制,微带天线、喇叭天线等传统电磁辐射器件存在体积重量大、工作带宽窄、无法快速动态调控等缺陷,难以满足日益发展的通信技术的需求.近年来出现的亚波长结构可在深度亚波长尺度下调控电磁波的传输行为,出现了多种奇异的电磁现象,完善了传统的电磁学理论,在一定程度上突破了传统材料电磁特性的限制,形成全新的电磁辐射技术,有效解决了传统天线存在的口径大、厚度高、带宽窄等难题,促进了电磁学、光子学、材料学等领域的发展.这种基于超构材料的新型天线可以被称为超构天线,具有高方向性、低副瓣、超宽带、可重构等传统天线难以实现的功能.本文主要回顾了近年来基于亚波长超构材料的超构天线技术的发展现状和取得的成果,介绍了超构材料在亚波长尺度下对电磁波振幅、相位、偏振态等的衍射调控机理,以及在此基础上形成的新型辐射器件,例如相控阵天线、高方向性天线、低雷达散射截面天线,基于亚波长结构的多种偏振调控器件及其在天线中的应用等.在衍射极限尺度下,这种亚波长结构的调控行为可有效提升电磁辐射器件的方向性、带宽,并可重构天线的工作频率、偏振态等性能.     

Theory,experiment and applications of metamaterials

In this review article, a brief introduction on the theory, experiments and applications of metamaterials is presented. The main focuses are concentrated on the composing meta-atoms, the method of transformation optics, the experimental demonstration of negative refraction, and the realizations of invisibility cloaks and electromagnetic black hole. At the end of this review, some typical applications of metamaterials, including high-performance antennas made of zero-refractive-index materials, inhomogeneous metamaterial lenses, and planar metasurfaces, are introduced in details.     

人工表面等离激元超材料

以微带为代表的传统微波传输线无法精细操控电磁模式,因此传统电子信息系统在空间耦合、动态响应和性能鲁棒性等方面存在瓶颈。人工表面等离激元(SSPP)超材料可打破上述瓶颈,是光学与信息领域的研究热点之一。人工表面等离激元超材料是一类模拟光频段表面等离激元特性的新型超材料,可在微波和太赫兹频段精细操控表面波,具有与平面电路相似的构型特性,可用于制备下一代集成电路的基础传输线。人工表面等离激元分为传输型和局域型两类。传输型人工表面等离激元超材料始于三维立体结构,后发展成超薄梳状金属条带构型。学者们构建了以其为基础的微波电路新体系,研制了人工表面等离激元滤波器、天线、放大器和倍频器等典型的无源和有源器件,并将其集成为可实现亚波长间距多通道信号非视距传输的无线通信系统。人工局域表面等离激元(SLSP)超材料也经历了从三维立体构型到超薄构型的发展历程,并通过螺旋构型、链式构型、高阶模式和杂化模式等为电磁波的亚波长尺度调控提供了更多自由度。系统讨论了人工表面等离激元超材料在微波电路中的相关理论和应用,包括人工表面等离激元超材料的基本概念、构型发展、无源/有源器件以及无线通信系统。     

Numerical Study of Low-Loss Cross Left-Handed Metamaterials at Visible Frequency

We present a numerical study of left-handed metamaterials （LHMs） composed of double cross pairs at visible frequency. The S-parameter retrieval method is adopted to confirm the negative refractive characteristic of this design. Compared with fishnet LHMs~ the proposed cross LHMs have a much lower loss, which will greatly facilitate practical applications. It is also found that, with the same size of resonant cells, the cross LHMs have a higher frequency than fishnet LHMs, which is explained using a simple effective LC circuit model.     

超构表面高效调控电磁波

实现自由调控电磁波不仅具有重要的科学研究意义,而且是通讯、能源、国防等领域的迫切需求。为了解决自然材料调控电磁波能力受限的问题,人们提出了人工超构材料这一新概念,实现了负折射、光学隐身等奇异的电磁效应。然而,经过多年的发展,超构材料仍存在结构复杂、损耗偏高、难以集成调谐等挑战。最近,本团队与国际同行一起提出了超构表面的新概念。超构表面基于电磁波在平面微结构上散射时获得的界面相位突变,充分利用人工微结构的"排列序构"这一自由度,实现了对电磁波振幅、相位、偏振及波前分布的有效调控,克服了超构材料遇到的瓶颈问题。本文主要回顾了本团队在偏振调控、波前调控及动态调控等方面开展的创新性研究。     

基于左手材料的高增益双频带微带天线

左手材料具有平板透镜聚焦效应,突破电磁波的衍射极限实现倏逝波的放大,其覆盖于微带天线上方,可以提高天线增益。设计了一种应用于UHF和WLAN的双频微带天线,通过在接地板上刻蚀己字形弯折缝隙的方法实现双频谐振。为了改善微带天线低频段的增益,设计了一种新型的哑铃型结构双频段左手材料,将其作为微带天线的覆层。测试结果表明,覆层左手材料微带天线的低频段和高频段的峰值增益分别为2.1 dBi和7.4 dBi。     

Principles of electromagnetic waves in metasurfaces

Metasurfaces are artificially structured thin films with unusual properties on demand. Different from metamaterials, the metasurfaces change the electromagnetic waves mainly by exploiting the boundary conditions, rather than the constitutive parameters in three dimensional(3D) spaces. Despite the intrinsic similarities in the operational principles, there is not a universal theory available for the understanding and design of metasurface-based devices. In this article, we propose the concept of metasurface waves(M-waves) and provide a general theory to describe the principles of them. Most importantly, it is shown that the M-waves share some fundamental properties such as extremely short wavelength, abrupt phase change and strong chromatic dispersion, which make them different from traditional bulk waves. It is shown that these properties can enable many important applications such as subwavelength imaging and lithography, planar optical devices, broadband anti-reflection, absorption and polarization conversion. Our results demonstrated unambiguously that traditional laws of diffraction, refraction, reflection and absorption should be revised by using the novel properties of M-waves. The theory provided here may pave the way for the design of new electromagnetic devices and further improvement of metasurfaces. The exotic properties of metasurfaces may also form the foundations for two new sub-disciplines called "subwavelength surface electromagnetics" and "subwavelength electromagnetics".     

A candidate three-dimensional GHz left-handed metamaterial composed of coplanar magnetic and electric resonators

GHz left-handed metamaterials (LHMs) composed of coplanar magnetic and electric resonators were proposed in this paper. On each of the unit cells, the electric resonator is placed in the center space of the magnetic resonator. By adjusting the geometrical dimensions of the resonators, negative magnetic response of the magnetic resonator and negative electric response of the electric resonator can be tuned to be coexistent at the same frequencies. The effective constitutive parameters were retrieved. The results verified simultaneous negative permeability and permittivity as well as negative index of the proposed LHMs. Based on the above work, two- and three-dimensional LHMs that make use of coplanar magnetic and electric resonators were proposed. The work done in this paper is of great reference values in fabricating three-dimensional LHMs.     

Electrothermal automodulation in incipient ferroelectric whispering-gallery microwave resonators at 4.2 K

Threshold conditions for electrothermal automodulation instability in high-Q ferroelectric microwave cryogenic resonators operating in the two-mode regime are investigated. The dependence of the electrothermal automodulation frequency on the numbers of interacting modes for different combinations of thermal modes and surface electromagnetic whispering-gallery modes is presented. The threshold power exciting the electrothermal automodulation of the oscillation of the partial mode electromagnetic amplitudes is compared with the threshold power of strictional parametric excitation of acoustic oscillations in the resonator. It is shown that the electrothermal automodulation in the two-mode regime may take place at an excitation power from 10 to 120 μW depending on the combination of interacting thermal and electromagnetic surface modes. Calculated threshold powers are low, which makes it possible to apply the electrothermal automodulation for improving the sensitivity of resonance bolometers and distributed microwave antennas with basic elements built around nonlinear microwave resonators. In addition, the electrothermal automodulation could be applied in developing novel microwave metamaterials. Nonlinear microwave whispering-gallery cryogenic resonators can be used as elements increasing the sensitivity of EPR spectroscopy methods.     

Circular polarization converters based on bi-layered asymmetrical split ring metamaterials

In this paper, a kind of bi-layered asymmetrical split ring metamaterial was proposed as a circular polarization converter. Simulations and experiments at the microwave regime showed that the proposed structures can achieve the conversions from right-handed circularly polarized electromagnetic waves to left-handed ones and the reversed conversions in the opposite propagating direction. The linear to circular polarization transmission coefficients and the surface currents were investigated to understand the mechanism of the circular polarization conversions. Moreover, we optimized the proposed metamaterials by increasing the distance between the two metal layers. The proposed circular polarization converters have applications in microwave wave plates and metamaterial antennas.     

电磁超表面在微波和太赫兹波段雷达散射截面缩减中的应用研究进展

电磁超表面由于其独特的电磁特性为调控电磁波提供了有力工具,合适地设计成编码、随机、相位不连续、完美吸收器等超表面,就能够控制电磁波的散射以及反射特性,实现雷达散射截面的缩减。本文综述了不同的电磁超表面利用漫反射或者吸收等特性实现在微波和太赫兹波段雷达散射截面缩减中的应用。分析表明,编码超表面由不同的数字单元组成,其反射相位差在很宽的频段范围内满足恒定的关系,设计特殊的单元序列使入射的电磁波产生非定向散射,更高bit编码超表面更容易灵活调控电磁波;随机超表面通过调节阵元的尺寸实现宽带移相从而将金属目标特征性强的反射峰打散成一个无规律、杂乱的波,产生漫反射;不连续超表面由于相位不连续可使电磁波发生漫反射或者异常反射;吸收器通过合理设计结构尺寸实现吸收电磁波能量来减小反射。因此电磁超表面在雷达隐身、宽带通讯、成像等方面具有重要的应用前景。最后对电磁超表面在雷达散射截面缩减中应用的发展趋势进行了初步探讨,未来将向着宽带、柔性、大角度等方面发展。     

A method to determine effective metamaterial properties based on stratified metafilms

Metamaterials’ properties may be quantified through the assignment of bulk material parameters such as magnetic permeability and electric permittivity. These assignments rely on the assumption that metamaterials are effective media, in this context meaning that their electromagnetic properties are independent of the sample size. This assumption is not always valid, particularly for metafilms, the surface equivalents of metamaterials. However, metamaterials comprised of numerous metafilm and dielectric layers can be uniquely characterized in the effective medium approximation when all aspects of the metamaterial are properly integrated. We present a simple model based on stratified systems to illustrate this fact. The model further assists in the interpretation of novel metamaterial behaviors and offers a rapid and accurate method to determine the functionality of bulk metamaterial-based devices.     

Directive metamaterial-based subwavelength resonant cavity antennas – Applications for beam steering

This article presents the use of composite resonant metamaterials for the design of highly directive subwavelength cavity antennas. These metamaterials, composed of planar metallic patterns periodically organized on dielectric substrates, exhibit frequency dispersive phase characteristics. Different models of metamaterial-based surfaces (metasurfaces), introducing a zero degree reflection phase shift to incident waves, are firstly studied where the bandwidth and operation frequency are predicted. These surfaces are then applied in a resonant Fabry–Perot type cavity and a ray optics analysis is used to design different models of ultra-compact high-gain microstrip printed antennas. Another surface presenting a variable reflection phase by the use of a non-periodic metamaterial-based metallic strips array is designed for a passive low-profile steering beam antenna application. Finally, the incorporation of active electronic components on the metasurfaces, allowing an electronic control of the phase responses, is applied to an operation frequency reconfigurable cavity and a beam steering cavity. All these cavity antennas operate on subwavelength modes, the smallest cavity thickness being of the order of λ/60. To cite this article: A. Ourir et al., C. R. Physique 10 (2009).     

Left-handed interfaces for electromagnetic surface waves

We show that surface electromagnetic waves (SEMWs) propagating along two-dimensional (2D) interfaces separating different metamaterials can behave analogously to 3D electromagnetic waves in either usual or left-handed media, depending on the permeabilities and/or permittivities of the two materials forming the interface. We derive the conditions when SEMWs carry energy opposite to the phase velocity. In analogy to three-dimensional (3D) left-handed media, we derive both an anomalous Cherenkov emission and a reversed Doppler effect. We also predict a negative refraction at the boundary between two different interfaces, which can be useful for perfect 2D lensing.     

Transmission Reflection Integrated Programmable Metasurface for Real-Time Beam Control and High Efficiency Transmission Polarization Conversion

The functional versatility and flexibility of multifunctional metasurfaces are of great significance for the application of electromagnetic (EM) metasurfaces in military stealth, holographic imaging, base station antennas, and other fields. Nevertheless, the functions of active programmable coding multifunctional metasurfaces are mostly reflective or transmissive, and the research on active multifunctional metasurfaces with transmission and reflection integration is still in its infancy. Here, a transmission reflection integrated active programmable coding metasurface is proposed to manipulate the transmission and reflection of different polarized electromagnetic waves independently in real time. As a proof of concept, a metasurface that can implement diverse programmable functionalities is designed. Numerical and experimental results indicate that the strategy has excellent performance in beam control and polarization conversion, which provides tremendous potential for extending highly integrated multifunctional devices.     

Electromagnetic characteristics of Hilbert curve-based metamaterials

As the typical building blocks of metamaterials, the cut wire and the split ring resonator have been extensively studied in recent years. Besides them, the space-filling curve-based metamaterials are receiving great attentions because of their intrinsic subwavelength and multi-bands characteristics. In this work, we have investigated experimentally and numerically the electromagnetic characteristics of such Hilbert curve metamaterial in the microwave frequency regime and found a deeply subwavelength magnetic resonance supported by the fractal pattern and featuring the wavelength-to-size ratio more than 20. The subwavelength electromagnetic properties of the Hilbert curve will be beneficial to realize high-performance metamaterials.     

Study of a slab waveguide loaded with dispersive anisotropic metamaterials

We have numerically studied the characteristics of a slab waveguide loaded with dispersive anisotropic metamaterials. For two typical-structured metamaterials, we have analyzed the tensor expressions of frequency-dependent permittivity and permeability and discussed influences of the resonant cell structures on waveguiding characteristics. Numerical results show that the slab waveguide loaded with anisotropic metamaterials may, to some extent, behave as the slab waveguides of isotropic left-handed metamaterials (LHMs) core and conventional right-handed materials core. To one’s interest, some unusual properties are revealed in this paper, such as the coexistence of the fundamental guided mode and negative group velocity, and extraordinarily large normal or anomalous group velocity dispersion. Our results may find some potential applications in both linear and nonlinear optical technology.