Magnetic Metasurface Research Articles

Dimensional crossover of microscopic magnetic metasurfaces for magnetic field amplification

Transformation optics applied to low frequency magnetic systems have been recently implemented to design magnetic field concentrators and cloaks with superior performance. Although this achievement has been amply demonstrated theoretically and experimentally in bulk 3D macrostructures, the performance of these devices at low dimensions remains an open question. In this work, we numerically investigate the non-monotonic evolution of the gain of a magnetic metamaterial field concentrator as the axial dimension is progressively shrunk. In particular, we show that in planar structures, the role played by the diamagnetic components becomes negligible, whereas the paramagnetic elements increase their magnetic field channeling efficiency. This is further demonstrated experimentally by tracking the gain of superconductor-ferromagnet concentrators through the superconducting transition. Interestingly, for thicknesses where the diamagnetic petals play an important role in the concentration gain, they also help to reduce the stray field of the concentrator, thus limiting the perturbation of the external field (invisibility). Our findings establish a roadmap and set clear geometrical limits for designing low dimensional magnetic field concentrators.

Global rigorous coupled wave analysis for design of multilayer metasurface absorbers.

In this work, a novel Global NV-ETM RCWA method is proposed to accelerate the optimization of the periodic stepped radar absorbing structure. This method is based on the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) utilizing the normal vector field (NV) and enhanced transmittance matrix (ETM) approach. The NV field dramatically improves the convergence rate for both dielectric and magnetic metasurfaces. The Global NV-ETM RCWA algorithm is developed to further accelerate the complete search calculations. Using the proposed method, the periodic stepped radar absorbing structures are efficiently optimized to realize the entire band absorption in 2-18 GHz. The optimization results demonstrate the Global NV-ETM RCWA method significantly increase the computational efficiency, with a 38-fold improvement over direct NV-ETM RCWA calculations when the truncation order N=3. This method provides a powerful tool for designing metasurface absorbers with various desired functionalities.

Transition between radial and toroidal orders in a trimer-based magnetic metasurface

Transition between radial and toroidal orders in a trimer-based magnetic metasurface

Analysis and design of holographic magnetic metasurfaces in the very near field for sensing applications at quasi-static regime

In this paper, we present a novel low-frequency sensing solution based on the manipulation of the near-field distribution by employing a passive holographic magnetic metasurface, excited by an active RF coil placed in its reactive region. In particular, the sensing capability is based on the interaction between the magnetic field distribution produced by the radiating system and the magneto-dielectric inhomogeneities eventually present within the material under test. We first start from conceiving the geometrical set-up of the metasurface and its driving RF coil, adopting a low operative frequency (specifically 3 MHz) to consider a quasi-static regime and able to increase the penetration depth within the sample. Afterwards, since the sensing spatial resolution and performance can be modulated by controlling the metasurface properties, the required holographic magnetic field mask, describing the ideal distribution at a specific plane, is designed. Then, the amplitude and phase of currents, flowing in each metasurface unit-cell and required to synthetize the field mask, are determined through an optimization technique. Next, the capacitive loads necessary to accomplish the planned behavior are retrieved, by exploiting the metasurface impedance matrix. Finally, experimental measurements conducted on fabricated prototypes validated the numerical results, confirming the efficacy of the proposed approach to detect inhomogeneities in a medium with a magnetic inclusion in a non-destructive manner. The findings show that holographic magnetic metasurfaces operating in the quasi-static regime can be successfully employed for non-destructive sensing, both in industrial and biomedical fields, despite the extremely low frequencies.

Integro-Differential Analysis of Resonant Magnetic Metasurfaces With Equivalent Medium Approximation

This paper proposes a strategy to consider the dielectric effects in the thin-wire integro-differential formulation and applies it to analyzing microstrip metasurfaces that support magnetic resonances. These structures comprise a periodic arrangement of subwavelength unit cells; therefore, the thin-wire approximation can be applied to analyze them. However, the substrate is usually disregarded. This work achieves more accurate results with a homogeneous equivalent medium approximation considering the dielectric properties. Moreover, an experimental methodology is presented to validate this implementation for each device as well as for the complete system. The proposed formulation is numerically solved with the Method of Moments, and the results show close agreement with experimental data. Besides, it leads to a significant reduction in the computation time compared to a full-wave analysis, which makes this approach also compelling for designing inductive wireless power transfer systems and magnetic resonators.

A self-biased non-reciprocal magnetic metasurface for bidirectional phase modulation

Non-reciprocal metasurfaces can encode optical functions on forward- and backward-propagating waves, and could be used to create non-reciprocal antennas and radomes for full-duplex wireless communication and radar systems. However, such metasurfaces typically require external electric- or magnetic-field biasing or rely on non-linear effects, which makes practical implementation challenging. Here we report a self-biased non-reciprocal metasurface based on magnetic meta-atoms made from lanthanum-doped barium hexaferrite. The metasurface offers a transmittance of up to 77% and an operation angle of ±64°. We show that they can be used for on-demand bidirectional phase modulation, which provides non-reciprocal functionalities including microwave isolation, non-reciprocal beam steering, non-reciprocal focusing and non-reciprocal holography. The approach could also be potentially extended to megahertz and optical frequencies by using different self-biased magnetic materials.

Spatial filtering magnetic metasurface for misalignment robustness enhancement in wireless power transfer applications

In this paper, we present the design of spatial filtering magnetic metasurfaces to overcome the efficiency decay arising in misaligned resonant inductive Wireless Power Transfer systems. At first, we describe the analytical framework for the control of currents flowing on a finite-size metasurface, avoiding classical truncation effects on the periphery and opportunely manipulating, at the same time, the spatial magnetic field distribution produced by the closely placed RF driving coil. In order to validate the theoretical approach, we conceive a numerical test case consisting of a WPT system operating at 12 MHz. By performing accurate full-wave simulations, we prove that inducing a uniform current in the metasurface results in a more robust WPT system in terms of misalignment with respect to conventional configurations, also including standard metasurfaces. Therefore, while the use of metasurfaces in WPT systems has been already demonstrated to be beneficial in terms of efficiency enhancement, we confirmed that a proper control of the metasurfaces field filtering response can be advantageous also for the misalignment issue. Notably, the free space wavelength at the operating frequency (12 MHz) is 25 m, whereas the proposed metasurface dimensions are only 0.0024λ × 0.0024λ. Despite the extremely reduced dimensions, the spatial magnetic field distribution produced by the closely placed RF driving coil can be nevertheless opportunely manipulated. Finally, experimental measurements conducted on fabricated prototypes validated the numerical results, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed approach. These achievements can be particularly helpful in WPT applications where the position of driving and receiving coils frequently changes, as in consumer devices and biomedical implants.

Low Frequency Magnetic Metasurface for Wireless Power Transfer Applications: Reducing Losses Effect and Optimizing Loading Condition

Low Frequency Magnetic Metasurface for Wireless Power Transfer Applications: Reducing Losses Effect and Optimizing Loading Condition

Electromagnetic interferences susceptibility analysis for a metasurface‐modified wireless power transfer system

AbstractThe use of magnetic metasurfaces in Wireless Power Transfer systems is becoming a popular research topic: they have proven to be a valid approach to increase the performances (in terms of power transfer) and improve the overall EMC properties in terms of field emissions. In this contribution, the authors investigate the susceptibility of such systems in case of an impinging Electromagnetic Interference (that might also be intentional), evaluating different parameters for a selected set of the system's components. In particular, the worst‐case scenarios of voltage peak, energy and sharpness (where appliable) at the transmitting and receiving ports and at each capacitor of the metasurface are calculated. The results obtained for a specific system practically implemented in the lab, show that the metasurface does not necessarily decreases susceptibility towards EMI and it can be itself the most critical component. The identification of the key and critical parameters allows us to provide an insight on how metamaterials used as shielding devices should be properly designed.

Energy Efficient Single Pulse Switching of [Co/Gd/Pt]N Nanodisks Using Surface Lattice Resonances.

The impact of plasmonic surface lattice resonances on the magneto-optical properties and energy absorption efficiency has been studied in arrays of [Co/Gd/Pt]N multilayer nanodisks. Varying the light wavelength, the disk diameter, and the period of the array, it is demonstrated that surface lattice resonances allow all-optical single pulse switching of [Co/Gd/Pt]N nanodisk arrays with an energy 400% smaller than the energy needed to switch a continuous [Co/Gd/Pt]N film. Moreover, the magneto-optical Faraday effect is enhanced at the resonance condition by up to 5,000%. The influence of the disk diameter and array period on the amplitude, width and position of the surface lattice resonances is in qualitative agreement with theoretical calculations and opens the way to designing magnetic metasurfaces for all-optical magnetization switching applications.

Magnetic metasurfaces with metallic inclusions

Purpose of this paper is the development and creation of the magnetic metasurfaces with metallic inclusions operating both in the microwave and terahertz frequency ranges. Methods. The Maxwell’s equations and the expressions for the effective medium parameters are used to build the analytical models of the magnetic metasurfaces based on either a ferromagnetic (FM) or antiferromagnetic (AFM) dielectric matrix, containing a two-dimensional periodic structure of thin metal (non-magnetic) wires surrounded by insulators. Numerical simulation of such structures operating in the microwave range is carried out using the MaxLLG software package. The magnetron sputtering, liquid etching, optical lithography, and lift-off photolithography are used to create bicomponent magnetic metasurfaces, consisting of two magnetic materials with very different values of magnetization. The study of linear and nonlinear characteristics of the bicomponent magnetic metasurfaces is carried out using the methods of microwave and Brillouin spectroscopy. Results. Based on the developed analytical model of the magnetic metasurface with metallic (nonmagnetic) inclusions it is shown that the FM metasurface possesses properties of a left-handed medium in a microwave range and the AFM metasurface possesses similar properties in a terahertz range. In the last case, the material parameters of the AFM metasurface are twice negative in two frequency bands. For the magnetic metasurfaces with metallic magnetic inclusions, the formation of absorption bands in the spectrum of a traveling magnetostatic surface spin wave due to the resonant properties of the inclusions has been established. In the nonlinear regime, the effect of nonreciprocal parametric three-wave resonance was obtained. Conclusion. The results presented in the paper demonstrate a number of physical phenomena that are observed only in the magnetic metasurfaces with metallic (nonmagnetic and magnetic) inclusions.

Flexible Magnetic Metasurface with Defect Cavity for Wireless Power Transfer System.

In this paper, we present a flexible magnetic metamaterial structure for enhancing the efficiency of wireless power transfer (WPT) systems operating at 13.56 MHz. The metasurface between transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) coils of the WPT system is constructed of a 3 × 5 metamaterial unit cell array with a total size of 150 × 300 mm2. Most metamaterial structures integrated into WPT systems are in planar configurations with a rigid substrate, which limits practical applications. The proposed metasurface is fabricated on an FR-4 substrate with a thin thickness of 0.2 mm; therefore, it can be bent with radii greater than 80 mm. A defect cavity is formed in the non-homogeneous metasurface by controlling the resonant frequency of the unit cell with an external capacitor. Simulation and measurement results show that the efficiency of the WPT system is significantly enhanced with metasurfaces. The performance of the WPT system can also be optimized with suitable bend profiles of metasurfaces. This proposed flexible metasurface could be widely applied to WPT systems, especially asymmetric, bendable, or wearable WPT systems.

Optical interface engineering with on-demand magnetic surface conductivities

Optical interfaces with arbitrary magnetic and electric surface conductivities can enable the design of photonic devices with new functionalities, but practical approaches to date are nonexistent. Regular interfaces, such as those with graphene, are optically interesting due to their tailorable electric surface conductivity. However, their magnetic surface conductivity is negligible since the magnetic response in natural materials is generally weak from the terahertz frequency onward. The quest for artificial magnetic response has recently triggered the development of magnetic metasurfaces that, however, can only provide the interface with a limited value of magnetic surface conductivity. Herein we find that vertical heterostructures based on regular nonmagnetic metasurfaces have a direct correspondence to an optical interface with both magnetic and electric surface conductivities, whose desired values can be structurally engineered. Moreover, we identify several unique photonic and plasmonic responses at optical interfaces with specific magnetic surface conductivities, including a polarization-insensitive Brewster effect and pure magnetic surface waves.

Radially Periodic Metasurface Lenses for Magnetic Field Collimation in Resonant Wireless Power Transfer Applications

In this paper, a new procedure and topology of magnetic metasurface lens are proposed for improving the performance of Resonant Wireless Power Transfer systems. Firstly, three subwave-length unit cells are optimized in order to get negative magnetic permeability in the same frequency, each one with a different refractive index, and they are experimentally characterized. Then, the Transformation Optics technique is applied in order to find the unit cell arrangements which lead to the magnetic field focusing in a given direction. For this purpose, two coordinate transformations are proposed, and the effective electric permittivity and permeability that generate these profiles are calculated. It is shown from simulations and measurements that the refractive index gradient produced by the radial disposition of the unit cells can lead to a magnetic field manipulation similar to the optical converging and diverging lenses. Both metamaterials lenses are built, and the calculation of the magnetic flux density as a function of the measured induced voltage in a probe coil verifies their effects on the magnetic field. Finally, their performance in a resonant wireless power transfer system is tested, and improvements in terms of efficiency and range are presented. The proposed design method and the lenses that were developed demonstrate that metasurface lenses can improve efficiency without reducing the range, once these lenses are positioned close to the transmitter coil. Besides that, this method can reduce the losses due to misalignment between coils once the field can be collimated in a specific direction.

Magnetic metasurfaces properties in the near field regions

In this paper, we present a general equivalent-circuit interpretation of finite magnetic metasurfaces interacting with an arbitrary arrangement of RF coils operating in near-field regime. The developed model allows to derive a physical interpretation of the interactions between the metasurface and the surrounding RF coils, both transmitting and receiving. Indeed, especially for near-field applications, the metasurface presence modifies the behavior of each RF coil differently, due to the specific reciprocal interactions. Hence, the proposed approach introduces a source-related complex magnetic permeability matrix, overcoming the traditional bulk definition. To prove the model validity against full-wave simulations, we present two significant test cases, commonly used in practical applications. The former is represented by the simple metasurface-coil arrangement from which important and fundamental considerations can be drawn. The latter system is composed by a transmitting and a receiving coil with a metasurface in between; detailed explanations on the metasurface interactions with both the RF coils are developed. Finally, we also achieved an excellent agreement between the numerical results and the measurements obtained through fabricated prototypes. In summary, the circuit interpretation herein presented, in addition to the rigorous electromagnetic theoretical approaches already appeared in the open literature, reveals useful in providing quantitative, practical, and easy-to-handle guidelines for the design and physical understanding of finite magnetic metasurfaces interacting with arbitrary RF coils arrangements in the near-field regime.

Design of gate-tunable graphene electro-optical reflectors based on an optical slot-antenna coupled cavity

The unique properties of graphene offer an exciting opportunity towards tunable photonic surfaces for flexible devices. In this paper, we design a gate-tunable, free-space graphene electro-optical reflector based on cavity resonator structures. We firstly calculate the graphene refractive index n and k as a function of Fermi level and external gating voltage. Then, we designed the structure of the single-layer graphene reflective resonator by carefully selecting suitable materials and device parameters to maximize the reflectance differences before and after electro-optical tuning. We also developed a theoretical model to discuss this system based on the optical transition matrix method. Moreover, we used field enhancement to further increase the reflectance differences by incorporating Sn nanodots based optical slot-antenna coupled cavities. The maximum broadband, incident angle insensitive reflectance differences could reach 28% with an extinction ratio of 1.62 dB at a low insertion loss of 0.45 dB, and the spectral range is tunable by changing the optical cavity length. We also used an indium tin oxide layer as part of the optical cavity and the electrode simultaneously to reduce the voltage applied. To our best knowledge, this work is the first one on tunable two-dimensional (2D) material reflectors for free-space applications, apart from using liquid crystals or magnetic metasurfaces. This new design of tunable 2D electro-optical reflectors also reduces the complexity of fabrication steps, having promising applications in tunable flexible photonic surfaces and devices for variable optical attenuators and light detection and ranging systems.

Broadband radar cross section reduction by an absorptive metasurface based on a magnetic absorbing material.

A highly feasible approach to achieve a broadband radar cross section (RCS) reduction using a simple magnetic metasurface is presented. A magnetic absorbing material (MAM) with high permittivity and magnetic loss is introduced into the metasurface design instead of the more common dielectric material to considerably reduce its thickness. The metasurface is composed of an optimized two-dimensional array of MAM meta-atoms and a metal plate in back. The meta-atoms share a simple square ring shape but with variable geometrical parameters, forming strong absorption in different frequency bands with large reflection phase differences. By hybridizing the absorption and phase-cancelation technique, a 10-dB RCS reduction from 3.4 to 18 GHz is achieved at a thickness of only 4 mm. Further experimental measurements are provided to evaluate the performance. Our work provides a promising way to broaden the bandwidth of RCS reduction with low density, reduced thickness, and stable performance, which can be utilized in harsh physical and chemical environments.

An Analytical Approach for the Arbitrary Control of Magnetic Metasurfaces Frequency Response

In this letter, we develop an accurate and effective analytical framework to arbitrarily manipulate the frequency response of magnetic metasurfaces. In particular, we demonstrate the possibility to homogenize the response of the unit cells constituting a finite slab, avoiding undesired truncation effects and, consequently, performance degradation. In addition, we also show that the control over the current flowing in each array element can be arbitrary, thus allowing exotic properties accomplishment. For instance, we prove that the magnetic field distribution reconfigurability can be easily achieved. We finally demonstrate the reliability of the procedure based on the theoretical circuit model through full-wave simulations performed over meaningful test cases. The possibility to accurately control the response of magnetic metasurfaces can be extremely important for enhancing performance in numerous applications, as for instance wireless power transfer and magnetic resonance imaging.

Impact of the dielectric duty factor on magnetic resonance in Ag-SiO2-Ag magnetic absorber

Magnetic absorber in optical frequency can be fulfilled through metamaterials designing. Therein, magnetic resonance in metal-dielectric-metal metasurfaces can be manipulated conveniently, and studying the parameters impacts is the primary for applications. In this work, through changing the grating width and the thickness of silica, the magnetic resonance modes have been studied, the conditions of the phase change zone from magnetic resonance (MR) to Fabry-Perot (FP) are given out in Ag−SiO2−Ag grating magnetic metasurfaces. The results indicate that the MR mode in metal-dielectric-metal configuration is mainly decided on the dielectric duty factor other than the sole behaviors of the thickness of dielectric and size of nanostructures. The physical mechanism is elucidated through simulated electromagnetic field distributions using finite difference time domain (FDTD) solution, and numerical analysis of effective refraction index of Ag−SiO2−Ag magnetic metasurfaces. This study may prompt development of metamaterials in basic research in condensed physics and in optical devices applications.

Light absorption and nanofocusing on a tapered magnetic metasurface

A type of metasurface was constructed on a silicon wafer using a nanopatterned magnetic film to achieve ideal light absorption within a wide wavelength range of 3 μm–15 μm. Using the metasurface, the surface electrons could be localized efficiently into an arrayed planar magnetic nanotip and then modulated by configuring the surface architecture to produce remarkable infrared reflectivity variation. A theoretical analysis showed that the excited surface plasmon exhibit stronger electric field components at the common metal-to-air interface. The Tb14Fe68Co18 nanotip array provided more powerful nanofocusing and a lower infrared reflectivity than an array shaped on a traditional aluminum film. By adjusting the structural parameters of the nanorhombus array formed on the TbCo film system, the convergent light spot could be modulated to improve light absorption markedly.