EnginSoft - Conference Abstracts

EnginSoft International Conference 2010
CAE Technologies for Industry

Design of metamaterial based devices for electromagnetic applications

Monorchio Agostino - University of Pisa (Italy)
Genovesi Simone - University of Pisa (Italy)
Costa Filippo - University of Pisa (Italy)

Abstract

In the last decade great attention has been devoted to the study of Metamaterials. The electromagnetic properties of homogeneous materials arise from their microstructure and chemical composition. These properties, generally measured by their complex permittivity and permeability, dictate the response of the material to external electric and magnetic fields, respectively. Artificial electromagnetic materials are man-made composite structures exhibiting properties not found in natural bulk materials. The dimensions of the elementary building blocks or particles of such materials are electrically small with respect to the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation with which they interact. For these reasons we commonly refer to these materials as metamaterials. Artificial impedance surfaces belong to a particular class of such artificial electromagnetic materials, being the structure bound to two dimensions. These surfaces can control the propagation or the boundary conditions of electromagnetic fields and are generally referred to as High Impedance Surfaces (HIS). The basic configuration of a HIS generally comprise an arrangement of metal elements on a periodic lattice, printed on a planar grounded dielectric slab.
High impedance surfaces can be exploited to realize Electromagnetic Bandgap (EBG) structures, which prevent the surface wave propagation within the so-called forbidden band, and Artificial Magnetic Conductors (AMC), which approximate the behavior of a Perfect Magnetic Conductor (PMC). The electromagnetic behavior of these surfaces can be tailored by recurring to a proper design of the basic element shape and size, the suitable value of the periodicity and a correct choice of the dielectric properties and thickness of the single or multiple dielectric slabs employed for the structure.
These HISs are mainly used at microwave and (sub) millimeter wave frequency and provide surface wave suppression, improve antenna performance for modern wireless communication systems, limit the interference among adjacent devices, realize enhanced radar absorbing materials, foster novel microwave circuits and waveguide designs.
In this work the unique properties of metamaterials will be shown by using some examples regarding the design of low profile antennas, the suppression of simultaneous switching noise, the implementation of novel radar absorbing materials.