Ultrawideband RCS Reduction of Planar and Conformal Surfaces Using Ultrathin Polarization Conversion Metasurface

Abstract

A metasurface-based polarization converter for ultrawideband radar cross-section (RCS) reduction of planar and conformal surfaces is presented in this paper. Initially, a polarization converter is designed which consists of a modified concentric double (MCD) square ring resonator-based unit cell along with an air gap in between the substrate and the ground plane. This air gap enhances the polarization conversion bandwidth (PCBW) of the converter. An ultrawide PCBW ranging from 6.3 – 20.5 GHz (106%) is obtained with a high polarization conversion ratio (PCR) of 0.9 for normal incident EM waves. The conversion efficiency is also found to be stable for oblique incidences over the aforementioned band with a PCR of above 0.8 upto ±35° angles of incidence. Later on, a checkerboard configuration of the polarization conversion metasurface (PCMS) array and its mirror array is applied on a planar as well as on a cylindrical conformal surface for reducing the radar cross section (RCS). It is observed that a consistent 10 - dB co-polarized monostatic RCS reduction is achieved with the planar PCMS surface over an ultrawideband (5.5 – 20.5 GHz). Even with the cylindrical surface, nearly 10 dB RCS reduction is obtained upto central angles of 60° over a wideband. Both the structures are simulated and measured after fabrication, and a reasonably good agreement is obtained between them.