Frequency-Selective Surfaces for Microwave and Terahertz Spectra

Abstract

FREQUENCYselective surfaces (FSSs) made of subwavelength periodic structures have been broadly applied in various electromagnetic applications. Their main function is to tailor the frequency response to incident waves, or to obtain electromagnetic (EM) properties that do not exist in homogeneous natural materials. When increasing the design complexity to enhance performance, however, the computation cost hikes dramatically in analysis and synthesis as additional design variables are introduced. In contrast to such complexity increase, this thesis aims at systematically developing effective and efficient design and optimization approaches for FSS-based structures adopting fundamental unit-cell patterns, such as rectangular patches, rings and grids. Additionally, impedance matching to free space is thoroughly investigated and adapted as a means towards performance improvement in both absorbers and filters. Hereby, multiple designs are demonstrated with realizations from the microwave to the terahertz (THz) frequency spectrum. In spite of their simplicity, the proposed designs outperform the state-of-the-art counterparts in the literature by fully exhausting the potentials of their spatial structures and material attributes. Specifically, Chapter 3 challenges a common belief that adding an impedance matching superstrate to an absorber will broaden its operation bandwidth at the cost of increased total thickness profile. This Chapter proves that it is possible to increase the bandwidth-to-thickness ratio. The concept is firstly demonstrated at the circuit level, and then verified by full-wave simulations. The optimization process can be illustrated with an admittance Smith chart. The distinctive performance of the proposed single- FSS-layer absorber is justified with a figure of merit (FoM) which comprehensively involves the relative bandwidth, the normalized thickness and the level of reflectivity. In Chapter 4, a semi-analytical approach for absorber design is developed by systematically combining analytical, empirical and numerical techniques. The optimization space can be simplified from millions of exhaustive search cases to merely a few hundreds of seed simulations, by exploiting insights into the linearity, scalability and independence regarding the major components of an absorber. For any specified level of absorption and operation bandwidth, the obtained semi-analytical algorithm enables fast synthesis of an absorber with a minimal thickness. Both absorbers proposed in the above chapters have been realized using patterned resistive layers and experimentally validated under oblique angles of incidence for transverse-electric (TE) and transversemagnetic (TM) modes. The design methods can be readily expanded for structures of multiple FSS layers. In the terahertz frequency range, common microfabrication technologies do not accommodate those resistive inks used for silk-printing lossy FSS patterns. As an alternative, a sub-skin-depth metal layer with nanoscale thickness is proposed in Chapter 5 to meet this requirement. The Drude model is adopted to simulate the ultra-thin metallic FSS, as it satisfactorily describes the frequency dependent properties of noble metals. The proposed absorber is robust to dimensional tolerance in fabrication and attains a stable absorption bandwidth under oblique impinging waves. In Chapter 6, a frequency reconfigurable terahertz bandpass filter is proposed and experimentally verified. It includes two identical double-layer FSSs separated by an air spacer which can be mechanically tuned. The filter allows a highly selective transmission sweeping across a wide spectrum. The underlying mechanism can be explained from two perspectives, namely through interpretation as Fabry-Perot resonant cavity and through consideration of the admittance Smith chart. The designed device is insensitive to fabrication tolerances and stable to oblique angle of incidence. The fabricated filter confirms a 40% tuning range and less than 1 dB insertion loss. This design is among the first few practical reconfigurable terahertz bandpass filters reported in the literature. Overall, the research outcomes suggest that developing complicated FSS patterns with a large number of degrees of freedom is unnecessary in many cases if the potential of fundamental geometries is fully exploited through rigorous algorithmic optimization methods. The design approaches illustrated in this thesis are generic to all FSS-based structures and can potentially be extended to multi-FSS layers and impedance surfaces, to satisfy performance requirements in specific applications.