A dual-mode infrared thermal stealth structure compatible with radar bands

Abstract

Currently, multi-spectral stealth technology has become crucial in countering advanced military and civilian detection methods. Metamaterials, known for their adaptable designs and superior wavefront manipulation capabilities, effectively meet the complex requirements of infrared and radar bands for material properties, thus being widely used in developing multi-band thermal stealth materials. In this study, we propose a tunable metamaterial structure based on phase-change material vanadium oxide. This structure operates in two modes facilitated by the temperature-induced phase transition of vanadium oxide, which modifies the effective cavity thickness and influences the infrared resonance of the coupled cavity-plasma system. This modulation enables tunable control of thermal radiation within the 3 μm–14 μm wavelength range, achieving effective infrared thermal camouflage across varying environmental backgrounds. Additionally, the structure achieves high radar absorption across the ultra-wideband radar frequencies of 3.65 GHz–18 GHz and 26.5 GHz–34 GHz, with average absorption of 0.89 and 0.85, respectively. Hence, the proposed metamaterial structure effectively provides infrared thermal stealth compatibility with radar bands in both low-temperature (270 K–310 K) and high-temperature (380 K–420 K) environments.