Lossy Materials Research Articles

One-Port Coaxial Line Sample Holder Characterisation Method of Dielectric Spectra.

A technique for solving the one-port closed coaxial transmission line sample holder scattering equation for complex permittivity inversion for lossy materials is presented. A non-linear least-squares procedure is used for the determination of parameters for the specification of the spectral functional form of the complex permittivity. The method allows for accurate retrieval of many low- and high-permittivity dielectric materials in the frequency range of 1 GHz to 3 GHz inserted into the coaxial cell. Using this method, the complex permittivity of a number of liquids and a Maltese soil known as Bajjad soil have been extracted by measurements using a short terminated coaxial transmission line sample holder. The proposed novel inversion method is mainly based on the reflection coefficient of the test material. The measured results of the complex permittivity of liquid dielectrics such as ethanol, methanol, and TX100 are validated and compared with previously published data obtained from measurements made by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) using a two-port measurement setup made with the same commercial coaxial transmission line sample holder used in the one-port setup. Since the technique allows broadband measurements, it has been used to characterise the soil dielectric spectrum in the frequency range of 1-3 GHz, which is also compared with results from a two-port setup of the same coaxial line. The experimental results are a validation of the proposed approach for different types of materials.

Multispectral Hierarchical Metamaterials with Broadband Microwave Absorption, Gradient Infrared Emissivity, and High Visible Transparency

AbstractThe rapid progression of multispectral detectors poses a serious threat to weapon systems and personnel. The efficiency of stealth camouflage materials, however, has strong wavelength dependence, which limits their functionality to a specific spectral range. Here, a multispectral hierarchical metamaterial (MHM) with broadband microwave absorption, gradient infrared (IR) emissivity, and high visible transparency is proposed. The MHM design entails the integration of two distinct functional layers: the infrared camouflage layer (IRCL) and the radar absorbing layer (RAL). Specifically, leveraging the low‐pass and high‐impedance properties of capacitive frequency selective surfaces and adjustable filling ratio of low IR radiation materials, the IRCL achieves simultaneous high microwave transmission and gradient IR emissivity designs (emissivity gradients > 0.15 at 3–5 and 8–14 µm). The RAL achieves broadband microwave absorption across radar C, X, Ku, and Ka bands through a circuit‐analog absorber designed with lossy materials. Furthermore, prioritizing materials with high transparency enhances the average optical transmittance (>61.8%) of MHM in 380–760 nm. These distinctive features underscore the potential of the proposed MHM for advanced applications in camouflage and stealth technologies.

Flexible wideband microwave meta-absorber with designable digital infrared and visible camouflage

With the widespread use of multi-spectrum detection technology, the stealth of a single frequency band cannot meet the practical application requirements. Recently, the investigation of wearable and insulated multi-spectrum compatible stealth technology has become urgent. The flexible and thermally isolated wideband microwave meta-absorber with infrared and visible camouflage has been proposed, fabricated, and measured. An infrared shielding layer (IRSL) and a radar absorbing layer (RAL) are the two main components of the absorber. IRSL is realized by specifically arranging the pre-designed patch structure with three different filling ratios, which can confuse the detection of thermal infrared in 3–14 μm. RAL is achieved by etching the structure of the lossy material to form electrical loss in plane and magnetic loss between layers, so as to realize the broadband absorption of microwave higher than 90 % from 6.2-22.2 GHz. In addition, the absorber employs flexible and thermally isolated materials, providing excellent high-temperature stability normally at temperatures up to 130 °C. These unique properties confirm the feasibility of the proposed strategy. To effectively adapt to different thermal camouflage environments, it is essential to create IR digital camouflage patterns. Moreover, the additional flexibility and thermal insulation characteristics make it powerful in compatible camouflage-stealth facilities when used in complex environments and a wide range of high temperatures.

Statistical evaluation of electric field distributions in 3D composites with a random spatial distribution of dielectric inclusions

Electromagnetic applications of composites often impose constraints on the internal electric fields, such as an upper limit on the field strength to prevent local heating or dielectric breakthrough. However, owing to heterogeneity, the local fields in a composite differ from those in a homogeneous material. Moreover, they are accessible neither by experiment nor by effective medium theories, at least for arbitrary microstructures. In this work, we use numerical simulations to evaluate the electric field distribution and the effective permittivity for 3D systems of monodisperse impenetrable spheres dispersed in a continuous matrix phase. We restrict ourselves to loss-free dielectric materials and to a random spatial distribution of particles. Samples are placed in a parallel plate waveguide and exposed to a transverse electromagnetic wave. The local field amplitudes are calculated via the finite element method and are normalized to those of a homogeneous sample exhibiting the same effective permittivity and geometry. We analyze the distribution of the local electric field strength in both constituents, namely, particles and matrix. Thus, we evaluate mean values and standard deviations as well as the field strengths characterizing the highest and lowest percentiles. Increasing particle concentration or permittivity enhances heterogeneity, and so the local electric field strength in some domains can become much higher than its average value. The methods we apply here can also be used in further investigations of more complex systems, including lossy materials and agglomerating particles.

Dual-band dual-truncated R-slot loaded monopole patch antenna using a single-layer bandstop FSS reflector for gain enhancement

New reflector structure (RS) based on ultra-wide stopband single-layer frequency selective structure (FSS) for mid-band sub-6 GHz 5G applications is designed. The proposed RS is arranged into array of 7 × 7-unit cell of FSS elements for antenna gain and front-to-back ratio enhancement. The single antenna element of volume 30 × 20 × 1.6 (in mm3) consists of a dual-quarter-circular truncated edge-fed rectangular slot (R-slot) loaded rectangular patch (R-patch) antenna with degraded ground structure (DGS) to operate at 3.6 GHz mid-band sub-6 GHz 5G and 5.8 GHz WBAN band. The proposed unit cell FSS element, the RS of volume 55.5 × 55.5 × 13.2 (in mm3) and the associated antenna are designed on lossy thin FR-4 substrate material and investigated numerically using commercial computer simulation technology microwave studio (CST-MS) software. The studied dual-structure based RS made with array of single-layer FSS and monopole R-patch antenna is fabricated and measured. The measured impedance bandwidth (IBW) of 48.28% (3.06–4.85 GHz) and 86.20% (5–10 GHz), peak gain of 5.36 and 7.45 dBi, radiation efficiency of 67.11% and 80.16%, and front-to-back ratio of 12.23 dB and 22.84 dB are achieved at the resonant frequencies 3.5 and 5.8 GHz respectively. The FSS reflector associated with the dual-band monopole R-patch antenna performances are in good agreement with the portable wireless applications requirements.

Observation of zero-transmission dip in a single-layer electric metamaterial with finite non-radiative loss

We propose a theory for realizing a zero-transmission dip in the transmission spectrum of a reflectionless single-layer metamaterial designed based on the Brewster effect by variably controlling the radiative loss of the metamaterial in response to the non-radiative loss. The radiative loss can be controlled while maintaining broadband zero reflection by varying the relationship between the orientation of the constituent meta-atoms and the incident electromagnetic fields. As a verification of the proposed theory, we design a reflectionless metamaterial by arranging meta-atoms that exhibit a simple electric dipole resonance in a two-dimensional lattice. The numerically calculated and experimentally measured transmission spectra of this metamaterial demonstrate that the radiative loss can be controlled by changing the arrangement of the meta-atoms without altering their structure, and that a zero-transmission dip can be observed for a certain arrangement of the meta-atoms. This study could lead to the development of material sensing, especially for lossy materials based on resonant metamaterials.

Perfect transmission through lossy layers via ideal acoustic sources

Complementary acoustic metamaterials (CAMMs) have been proposed as a means of enhancing the transmission of acoustic imaging signals through aberrating layers. Aberrating layers with high impedance contrast compared to the surrounding material disrupt the acoustic field and hence distort acoustic images. However, conventional CAMMs are passive and thus unable to compensate for signal distortions associated with loss. This work presents an approach inspired by CAMMs that is not bound by the limits of passivity to compensate for both acoustic scattering and energy attenuation by augmenting a plane wave incident on a lossy material with monopolar and dipolar source fields to allow for perfect transmission, thus rendering the lossy medium acoustically transparent. We present a general approach to derive expressions for source magnitudes that are dimensionless with respect to frequency, system geometry, and the background medium. We validate these results with three-dimensional finite element simulations, where the appropriate monopolar and dipolar source fields are generated by prescribing velocities on finite-dimensional boundaries. We show the limitations of this approach with regard to frequency, system geometry, and lossy material characteristics via a parametric study.

Shielding Characteristics of Planar Lossy Materials for Obliquely Incident Plane Waves

Shielding Characteristics of Planar Lossy Materials for Obliquely Incident Plane Waves

Resonant cavity method based on RF measurement and simulation for measuring complex permittivity or permeability of RF absorbing materials

Accurate measurement of complex permittivity and/or permeability of radio-frequency (RF) absorbing materials is essential to predict the performances of higher-order-mode damping in damped accelerating cavities or in vacuum chambers. We propose an improved resonant cavity method that can be used as a complement to the widely used Nicolson–Ross–Weir method for measuring the RF characteristics of materials. The conventional resonant cavity method is based on the cavity perturbation theory. However, the measurements are inaccurate when losses in the materials are large. The improved method we propose determines the complex permittivity or permeability of materials from the measured resonant frequencies and Q factors based on eigenmode simulations. Because the reliability on the eigenmode calculation for RF cavities with lossy materials has become sufficiently reliable, determination of complex permittivity and permeability can be achieved using such a simulation software. We demonstrate this method using ferrite HF70 (TDK Corp.), which is useful for RF absorbers in damped accelerating cavities or in vacuum chambers.

A miniaturized dual band pass frequency selective surface insensitive to oblique angles and polarizations of wave

Abstract A Dualband Pass Frequency Selective Structure (DPSFSS) with miniaturized elements is proposed in this article. The miniaturized elements induce high inductance and capacitance values. The meandered line concept is used which extensively increases inductance of the dipole element. Very large capacitance is obtained between two meandered elements which have wide common area perpendicular to electric field for wave propagating in Z-direction. Two pass band poles and two zeros are obtained by perpendicular arrangement of meandered patterns on two sides of the substrate. Orthogonal arrangement of patterns ensure polarization symmetry (polarization insensitive) for Transverse Electric (TE) and Transverse Magnetic (TM) modes of exciting wave. Two pass band pole frequencies are positioned at 1.84 GHz and 4.53 GHz with low Insertion Losses (IL) of 0.67 dB and 1 dB, respectively. The lower and higher frequency bands have factional bandwidths of 41 % and 46 %, respectively. The transmission nulls occupy 2.8 GHz and 6.58 GHz frequencies. The structure is miniaturized to 0.032λ 0 × 0.032λ 0 dimensions with respect to lowest resonance residing at 1.83 GHz. The low IL at both pass bands is realized despite of using a lossy FR-4 material that can be improved to less than 0.5 dB at both the bands using less lossy materials such as F4BME or RO4003C. The proposed DPSFSS design is elaborated using Equivalent Circuit Model (ECM) and Surface Current Distribution (SCD). Measurements are performed on fabricated DPSFSS prototype and it is observed that the measured results coincide well with the simulated response. Angle stability of the DPSFSS is excellent and no unwanted resonances are observed at oblique angles upto 80° for dual polarizations of wave.

Characterizing Lossy Dielectric Materials in Shock Physics by Millimeter-Wave Interferometry Using One-Dimensional Convolutional Neural Networks and Nonlinear Optimization

When a dielectric material undergoes mechanical impact, it generates a shock wave, causing changes in its refractive index. Recent demonstrations have proven that the modified refractive index can be determined remotely using a millimeter-wave interferometer. However, these demonstrations are based on the resolution of an inverse electromagnetic problem, which assumes that the losses in the material are negligible. This restrictive assumption is overcome in this article, in which a new approach is proposed to solve the inverse electromagnetic problem in lossy and shocked dielectric materials. Our methodology combines a one-dimensional convolutional neural network architecture, namely Inverse problem of Lossless or Lossy Shocked Wavefront Network (ILSW-Net), with a nonlinear optimization technique based on the Nelder–Mead algorithm to estimate losses within dielectric materials under a mechanical impact. Experimental results for both simulated and real signals show that our method can successfully predict the velocities and the refractive index while accurately estimating the shock wavefront.

Poles and residues of lossy and dispersive electromagnetic metamaterials

This paper proposes a system-based pole-residue approach to describe loss and dispersion in double-positive (DPS), epsilon-negative (ENG), and epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) isotropic metamaterials. The matrix pencil (MP) method extracts the poles and residues from the damped sinusoids of the singular expansion (SEM) of the impulse responses of the transmitted and reflected waves. The complex values of poles and residues serve as a basis for a computational tool to discriminate between lossless, lossy, and dispersive materials. The extracted poles and residues can also be used to classify the material under test as a DPS, an ENG, or an ENZ metamaterial. The proposed method delivers reliable results even with noisy transmission and reflection data.

An improved waveguide method for accurate complex permittivity measurement of medium/high-loss material

In this paper, we propose an improved method for accurately measuring medium/high-loss material permittivity to overcome the air gap problem in the conventional waveguide method. This method improves the sample fixture and has a high tolerance on the wide side air gap, which is a dominant factor affecting the accuracy of the conventional waveguide method. Meanwhile, the proposed method avoids the effects of tilting and displacement during sample assembly. In our study, a typical lossy material commonly used in vacuum tubes has been quantitatively analyzed in Ka-band. The simulation results show that the relative error of ϵr′ can be reduced from more than 10% to less than 1% compared with the conventional waveguide method with a 0.1 mm wide side tolerance. The relative error of tanδ can be reduced from over 20% to below 6%. In addition, different lossy materials are discussed. The accuracy improvement was verified by measuring different BeO-TiO2 samples using conventional and improved methods.

Wide-angle ultra-wideband metamaterial absorber based on complex dielectric layer in long and very long-wave infrared

Long and very long-wave infrared are the most important bands in infrared detection technology because of their high atmospheric window radiation energy. At present, long and very long-wave infrared detectors are widely used in atmospheric monitoring, night reconnaissance, deep space exploration and other fields. In this paper, we first analyze the coupling resonance in the dual-band absorber (Ti–Si–Ti), and the absorption rates are 97.05% and 98.95% at 6.1 μm and 19.2 μm, respectively. Then, a four-layer (Ti–Si–SiO2–Ti) absorber with a complex dielectric structure is obtained by using the surface plasmon resonance and the inherent absorption of the lossy material SiO2. In addition to the traditional electromagnetic field analysis, we also used the layer absorption energy loss theory to study the inherent absorption mechanism of SiO2, and the average absorption of the absorber from 19 to 24.7 μm reached 92.87%. Finally, based on the composite dielectric layer, a thin ultra-wideband absorber with four nanorods of the same size surface structure was designed, and the average absorption was 92.03% from 13.3 to 24.6 μm. The polarization-insensitive ultra-wideband absorber proposed by us is light, simple in structure and easy to manufacture, and has potential application value in atmospheric monitoring, night reconnaissance, deep space exploration and other fields.

Variational study of a model for near-perfect transmission through lossy media with acoustic sources

Complementary acoustic metamaterials have been proposed as a means of compensating for the high impedance mismatches of aberrating layers that disrupt the acoustic field and hence distort acoustic images. Recently, a complementary acoustic metamaterial featuring active components was shown in principle to compensate for both the impedance mismatch and energy attenuation of lossy materials, but a physical realization of the concept has not yet been implemented. Here, we present results from a one-dimensional acoustic model showing how a plane wave incident on a lossy material can be augmented by point monopole and dipole sources to allow for near-perfect transmission, thus rendering the lossy medium acoustically transparent. We present general expressions for source magnitudes that are dimensionless with respect to frequency, material thickness, and the background medium. We explore the sensitivity of the performance to variations in each of the model parameters, considering both theoretical and practical limitations to the proposed method. We show that these findings are consistent with three-dimensional finite element simulations.

Incorporating the effect of frequency-independent attenuation within the on-axis spatial impulse response of a circular piston

The spatial impulse response is important for numerical simulations of diagnostic ultrasound. The spatial impulse response, which describes transient diffraction due to an impulsive input, yields closed form analytical expressions for various transducer geometries when the medium is lossless. These analytical expressions are advantageous for simulations that repeatedly evaluate these expressions at hundreds of thousands of points. However, spatial impulse responses evaluated for lossy materials typically require additional numerical calculations that substantially increase the computation time. Thus, analytical or rapidly converging numerical expressions for the lossy spatial impulse response are expected to greatly enhance present simulation methods. This motivates the derivation of on-axis spatial impulse responses for a circular piston that model frequency-independent attenuation. Closed-form analytical expressions for the on-axis spatial impulse response are introduced for two closely related frequency-independent attenuation models. The results show that, as the attenuation constant increases, the peak amplitudes of these lossy on-axis spatial impulse responses decrease. The lossy on-axis impulse response also decreases slightly as time increases beyond the initial arrival time, whereas the lossless on-axis spatial impulse response for a circular piston maintains a constant value after the initial arrival time.

Two split rings resonator-based perfect metamaterial absorbers with the incident and polarization angle independent for sensing applications

The perfect metamaterial absorber (PMA) optimized for high-performance absorbers to find the multiple sensing application. The structural composition of the PMA consists of two split ring resonators with six split gaps configured in an exhibit symmetry of rotation. The fundamental component of the design has three distinct layers: (1) the top and bottom layers, composed of a metallic substance with copper dielectric substrate with a thickness of 0.035 mm that exhibits lossy metal; (2) the middle layer, made of a lossy dielectric material referred to as Rogers RT5870 dielectric substrate with a thickness of 1.575 mm. The findings reveal that the absorber achieves a broad absorption spectrum, with simulated results from the CST Microwave Studio simulator indicating absorption peaks at 5.88, 9.20, and 15.88 GHz. whereas the strong absorbance is 99.91, 99.99, and 99.97 % with a good quality factor (Q) 29.40, 9.20, 13.23, respectively. The structural dimensions (7 × 7 mm2) are designed to deliver remarkable performance. The tri-band PMA exhibits polarization independent at various angles, including 0, 45, 90, 135, and 180° for both transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) modes. It has excellent absorption capabilities across multiple angles of incidence from 0 to 80°, including the whole operational spectrum. A comparative investigation of the circuit indicates the enhanced performance of the PMA, demonstrating its potential for exceptional functionality inside the advanced design system (ADS) software. Furthermore, the structures under consideration, which were simulated using the High-Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS), demonstrate a strong agreement with the highest level of absorption seen at each resonance peak in the CST simulation outcomes. This paper introduces an alternative protocol, expressed in terms of the TE and TM modes, for use with the restricted symmetric structure to find multiple sensing application. The proposed study highlights the exceptional properties of PMA provides several practical advantages, including its high absorption capacity, in multiple sensing application, insensitivity to incident and polarization angles, satellite technology, raw satellite feeds, and radars owing to these performance features.

Coupler RF kick and emittance optimization of the SHINE injector

Coupler RF kick due to the asymmetric structure caused by the coupler, is more likely to lead to emittance growth in the SHINE injector with low beam energy. The calculation of coupler RF kick and resulting emittance dilution has been studied in detail in the literature. In this paper, a novel approach is provided that a lossy material is placed on the surface of the superconducting cavity to approximate the Q 0 of the TESLA cavity, and a frequency solver of CST is used to simulate the electromagnetic field distribution, which is used to calculate coupler RF kick, and calibrated against the results of CST Particle Tracking Studio with a good agreement. In order to minimize the emittance growth of SHINE injector, a 1.3 GHz symmetric twin-coupler cavity is adoped in the single-cavity cryomodule, and the rotational angle and permutation of the 8 cavities in the 8-cavities cryomodule is optimized. Ultimately, the optimized emittance is lower than the design parameter.

Exploring localized ENZ resonances and their role in superscattering, wideband invisibility, and tunable scattering

While the role and manifestations of the localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) in anomalous scattering, like superscattering and invisibility, are quite well explored, the existence, appearance, and possible contribution of localized epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) resonances still invoke careful exploration. In this paper, that is done along with a comparison of the resonances of two types in the case of thin-wall cylinders made of lossy and loss-compensated dispersive materials. It is shown that the localized ENZ resonances exist and appear very close to the zero-permittivity regime, i.e., at near-zero but yet negative permittivity that is similar to the ENZ modes in thin planar films. Near- and far-field characteristics of the superscattering modes are investigated. The results indicate that the scattering regimes arising due to LSPRs and localized ENZ resonances are distinguishable in terms of the basic field features inside and around the scatterer and differ in their contribution to the resulting scattering mechanism, e.g., in terms of the occupied frequency and permittivity ranges as well as the sensitivity to the wall thickness variations. When the losses are either weak or tend to zero due to the doping with gain enabling impurities, the sharp peaks of the scattering cross-section that are yielded by the resonances can be said to be embedded into the otherwise wide invisibility range. In the case of lossy material, a wide and continuous invisibility range is shown to appear not only due to a small total volume of the scatterer in the nonresonant regime, but also because high-Q superscattering modes are suppressed by the losses. For numerical demonstration, indium antimonide, a natural lossy material, and a hypothetical, properly doped material with the same real part of the permittivity but lower or zero losses are considered. In the latter case, variations of permittivity with a control parameter can be adjusted in such a way that transitions from one superscattering mode to another can be achieved. In turn, transition from the strong-scattering to the invisibility regime is possible even for the original lossy material. The basic properties of the studied superscattering modes may be replicable in artificial structures comprising natural low-loss materials.

Role of metal inserts for ‘targeted’, ‘uniform’ or ‘controlled’ microwave heating objectives involving generalized sets of dielectrics (Group 1 – 4)

Microwave heating occurs volumetrically leading to faster processing than conventional heating processes. Over the last few decades, the potential of microwave heating has been investigated for various thermal processing applications such as food processing, material synthesis, fuel production and waste treatment/remediation. Current work investigates the role of the metal inserts towards targeted, uniform and/or controlled microwave heating for the four groups of dielectrics (Group 1 – 4) involving lateral and isotropic microwave incidences. The microwave induced heat generation and evolving temperature distributions within the materials in the absence and presence of the metal insert are numerically determined via the mathematical models comprising of Helmholtz equation, energy balance equation and an integro-differential boundary condition representing the scattering of the microwave at the air-material interface. Galerkin finite element method with biquadratic elements along with Crank-Nicolson time integration scheme has been employed to solve the governing equations. It has been found that the metal insert can suitably alter the heating characteristics leading to either faster heating, better heating uniformity or more intense targeted heating of the materials. Uniform microwave heating is generally difficult to attain except for very small samples. This work shows that the metal inserts can significantly reduce the heating inhomogeneity of the moderately large samples involving Group 1 to Group 3 materials. In addition, the targeted heating effect of the materials (Groups 1 to 4) can also be intensified by the use of the metal insert, as has been illustrated for various test cases. Especially, the metal insert can lead to targeted heating at the incident surface irrespective of the material or sample dimension, and that is difficult to attain except for the large samples. The metal inserts are also found to be efficient to control the rapid microwave heating experienced by the small samples of lossy materials (Group 1 and 3 materials) or accelerate the slower heating of the large samples resulting in significant energy savings, especially for Group 1 to Group 3 materials.