Spoof Surface Plasmon Research Articles

Design of a CPW-Based SSPP Band-Pass Filter with Reflectionless Notch

Abstract This work proposes a band-pass filter (BPF) with a reflectionless notch based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs), utilizing interdigital coupling structures and novel transmission line unit cells. This filter efficiently transmits signals within the 0.67 GHz - 4.06 GHz frequency range. By analyzing the equivalent LC circuit of the novel transmission line unit cell, its dispersion relation is derived using microwave network theory, with a cutoff frequency of 4.11 GHz. By comparing its dispersion relation with that of the conventional transmission line unit cell, the miniaturization capability of the proposed unit cell can be verified. In the BPF, loading a zigzag groove onto the central transmission line can be equivalently represented as an interdigital coupling structure, generating a stopband in the low-frequency range near 0 GHz. By deriving and analyzing its S-parameters, it is shown that the bandwidth of the low-frequency stopband can be flexibly adjusted by modifying the geometric dimensions of the zigzag groove. Additionally, loading another set of interdigital coupling structures onto the transmission line generates a notch at its resonant frequency of 3.4 GHz. It is noteworthy that in this configuration, the interdigital coupling structures along with the central transmission line can be represented equivalently as a set of CPW antennas. At the resonant frequency, the atructure radiates signals into free space, forming a reflectionless notch. Based on the simulations, a physical filter was fabricated and tested, showing excellent agreement between simulations and measurements.

Dual-band effective spoof surface plasmon polaritons (ESSPPs)-SSPPs transmission line with independently controllable cutoff frequencies

Dual-band effective spoof surface plasmon polaritons (ESSPPs)-SSPPs transmission line with independently controllable cutoff frequencies

Isolation improvement between two tightly coupled QMSIW MIMO antenna elements using spoof surface plasmon polariton structure

AbstractA spoof surface plasmon polariton superstrate structure‐based decoupling method is proposed in this paper to reduce mutual coupling between two tightly coupled quarter‐mode substrate integrated waveguide antenna elements. This superstrate is a periodic structure suspended over the antenna elements with an inter‐element spacing of 0.02 λ0 (1 mm) at 6 GHz. It has been demonstrated that the isolation can be improved from 6.5 dB to more than 39 dB within the operation band in measurement. Further, it has been shown that the proposed method can improve both the total efficiency (by 25%) and gain (1.4 dBi) of the multiple‐input multiple‐output antenna.

A microwave permittivity sensor on a Mach–Zehnder Interferometer of: Spoof surface plasmon polariton waveguides

A microwave Mach–Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) sensor for the permittivity characterization of liquids is presented in this paper. Two spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) waveguide transmission lines (TLs) composed of compact spiral units is utilized in a differential architecture. Loading a dielectric material on the sensing arm induces a phase difference between the two arms, leading to periodic interference dips on the transmission curve. The spectral positions and magnitudes of these dips change with different dielectric materials. Due to the nonlinear dispersion characteristics of the SSPP TL, the proposed SSPP-based MZI sensor achieves improved sensitivity compared with microstrip-based MZI sensor. To validate the sensor’s performance, six different oil samples and a set of adulterated oils were measured, incorporating a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) channel on the sensing arm. The variations in the spectral position and magnitude of the interference dip centered at 3.2 GHz are employed to determine the dielectric constants and loss tangents of the tested oils. The sensitivity in measuring the dielectric constant is 3.61 %. The maximum errors for measuring the dielectric constant and the loss tangent are 4.3 % and 6.7 %, respectively. Compared to other sensors for liquid oil detection, the proposed sensor provides a relatively high sensitivity while maintaining a low liquid volume, making it a promising candidate for permittivity measurements of liquid analytes and solid materials with similar dielectric constants.

Miniaturized low-profile end-fire antenna based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons

Miniaturized low-profile end-fire antenna based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons

Dispersion-free characterization of terahertz slab–waveguide modal confinement based on a metal Bragg grating structure

Photonic waveguide structures that use periodic metal grooves and periodically perforated metal slits (PPMSs) can laterally confine Sommerfeld and Zenneck surface waves of metals with the electric field accumulation among metal interspaces in the terahertz (THz) region, instead of the total internal reflection principle of dielectric slab media. For the efficiency enhancements of THz-wave coupling and slab–waveguide confinement, specific integrators with high refractive indices or specified for input angles of transverse magnetic polarized waves, such as prisms, metal blades, and waveguides, are requested to excite spoof surface plasmons in the THz region. However, the integrator-assembled slab–waveguides encounter challenges of THz pulse-wave communication in compact and low-distortion systems. A resonant waveguide grating structure based on PPMSs is experimentally demonstrated to confine THz lateral waves from the plane-wave radiation in free space. The open frame and periodic metal cavities of PPMSs can work as a slab–waveguide to transmit structural confined waveguide modes with forwarding evanescent waves of Fabry–Pérot resonance. For 0.1–1 THz waves, the short wavelengths that are both less than half the metal slit width and 3.75 times the metal thickness can lead to zero dispersion and the highest confinement factor in a slab–waveguide for PPMS-confined THz waves. This behavior is opposite to the high structural dispersion in confined THz waves of surface plasmonic devices.

Full‐angle beam scanning leaky‐wave antenna array based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons

AbstractA design scheme of high‐gain and full‐angle frequency beam scanning leaky wave antenna (LWA) and array is proposed based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) slow‐wave transmission line (TL) for radar field applications. A row of complementary split ring resonators is periodically etched near the SSPPs TL, which can transform the fundamental mode of SSPPs TL to the fast‐wave region and radiate electromagnetic waves, realising the full‐angle frequency beam scanning performance. A 1‐to‐2 microwave power divider is designed to feed the LWA array and realised good impedance matching covers 5.8–9.4 GHz bandwidth. Simulation and experimental results indicate that the designed LWA array can realise full‐angle beam scanning range of 180° (−90° to 90°) with a scanning rate of 3.83°/% performance. The peak gain values of the designed LWA element and array are 11.4dBi and 14.6 dBi, respectively, and the radiation efficiency of LWA array is maintained more than 80% within the operation frequency band.

E-plane waveguide bandpass filters based on high-order modes of spoof surface plasmon polaritons

In this paper, a new design method of E-plane waveguide bandpass filter (BPF) using high-order modes of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) is proposed. The high-order modes of the double-layer SSPP (DL-SSPP) unit cell can be effectively manipulated by adjusting the dimensions of grounded metallic patterns in SSPP array, which mainly determines the filtering characteristics of E-plane waveguide BPFs. For improving the out-of-band rejection, two extra transmission zeros (TZs) are designed at the upper and lower stopbands of E-plane waveguide BPF, and then the operating mechanism of TZs is clearly investigated. Moreover, the filtering characteristics of the E-plane waveguide BPF with different transition parts are discussed to demonstrate the generalization of proposed design method. To verify the design feasibility, two examples of E-plane waveguide BPF are fabricated and measured. Good agreement between measurements and simulations shows that the proposed design method possesses good potential for the applications of high-performance E-plane waveguide BPF design.

Plasmonic Radiation from Spin-Momentum Locking.

Chiral light emission plays a key role in sensing, tomography, quantum communication, among others. Whereas, achieving highly pure, tunable chirality emission across a broad spectrum currently presents significant challenges. Free-electron radiation emerges as a promising solution to surpass these barriers, especially in hard-to-reach regimes. Here, chiral free-electron radiation is presented by exploiting the spin-momentum locking (SML) property of spoof surface plasmons (SSPs). When the phase velocity of free electrons matches that of the SSPs, the SSPs can be excited. By implementing wavenumber compensation through perturbations, the confined SSPs are transformed into free-space free-electron radiation. Owing to the law of angular momentum conservation, this process converts the transverse spin angular momentum of SSPs into the longitudinal spin angular momentum of free-electron radiation during the process, producing pure, tunable, and chiral free-electron radiation across a broad spectrum. This method achieves an optimal degree of circular polarization approaching -1. The innovative methodology can be adapted to SML-enabled guided states or silicon photonics platforms, offering new avenues for achieving chiral emission.

A Small-Aperture and High-Performance Endfire Holographic Antenna Based on Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons

A Small-Aperture and High-Performance Endfire Holographic Antenna Based on Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons

Spoof surface plasmon Polaritons dual beam scanning antenna for 5G application

Dual beam scanning (DBS) antenna exited by two different spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) transmission lines is proposed in this paper. The antenna is constructed by placing three rows of circular patches on both sides of two different planar SSPPs waveguide. These patches convert the SSPP guided waves into radiating waves. This simple single-layer antenna is characterized by dual without need to use switches or other complex configurations. It is designed to support application of several 5G sub-6 GHz bands (3.5 (n78) GHz, 3.7 (n77) GHz, and 4.5 (n79) GHz). The proposed antenna realizes the dual beam scanning by controlling the dispersion properties and field confinement along two different SSPPs transmission lines, based on different propagation constant. Numerical simulations are carried out by CST Microwave Studio and Ansys HFSS. These numerical simulations are verified by experimental results over the operating frequency band from 1 GHz to 6 GHz.

Terahertz spoof plasmonic neural network for diffractive information recognition and processing

All-optical diffractive neural networks, as analog artificial intelligence accelerators, leverage parallelism and analog computation for complex data processing. However, their low space transmission efficiency or large spatial dimensions hinder miniaturization and broader application. Here, we propose a terahertz spoof plasmonic neural network on a planar diffractive platform for direct multi-target recognition. Our approach employs a spoof surface plasmon polariton coupler array to construct a diffractive network layer, resulting in a compact, efficient, and easily integrable architecture. We designed three schemes: basis vector classification, multi-user recognition, and MNIST handwritten digit classification. Experimental results reveal that the terahertz spoof plasmonic neural network successfully classifies basis vectors, recognizes multi-user orientation information, and directly processes handwritten digits using a designed input framework comprising a metal grating array, transmitters, and receivers. This work broadens the application of terahertz plasmonic metamaterials, paving the way for terahertz on-chip integration, intelligent communication, and advanced computing systems.

WR-4 Band Wideband Waveguide Diplexer Based on Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons and Its Application in Terahertz Communications

WR-4 Band Wideband Waveguide Diplexer Based on Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons and Its Application in Terahertz Communications

Simulation and measurement of electromagnetic wave propagations along a wearable e-textile metasurface transmission line

This study introduces a compact wearable metasurface transmission line operating at 2.45 GHz, utilizing spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP). The design incorporates a periodic arrangement of hook unit cells and a tapering structure to enhance coupling efficiency between the microstrip feed line and the metasurface transmission line. For its implementation, a dielectric substrate composed entirely of cotton denim jeans is employed, along with e-textile conductive traces and a ground plane. Electromagnetic wave propagation along the transmission line is simulated, and the primary wave mode and associated propagation characteristics are analyzed. Both simulation and measurement results confirm the successful performance of the metasurface transmission line for on-body signal transmissions.

Reconfigurable terahertz stretchable spoof surface plasmon polariton waveguide for filter applications

In this paper, a reconfigurable terahertz spoof surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waveguide is proposed on a stretchable polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. The SPP unit incorporates a folded stub and a conventional V-shaped SPP groove, enhancing the equivalent capacitance and consequently reducing the cutoff frequency. The cutoff frequency of the proposed SPP unit can be tuned from 285 to 390 GHz with stretchable factors of 1 ∼ 1.2, thereby achieving a reconfigurable operating frequency. The horizontal dimension of the proposed SPP waveguide can be tuned from 6.36 mm to 7.12 mm. Moreover, the SPP waveguide can generate transmission continuous phase shifts of −30°, −60°, −90°, and −120° with stretchable factors of 1.05, 1.1, 1.15, and 1.2, respectively, in the 150–190 GHz band. Applying the characteristic mode theory, a split ring resonator (SRR) functions as the equivalent magnetic dipole, which remains unaffected by stretchable deformation. When loaded with four SRR cells, the proposed SPP waveguide generates a tunable passband with a fixed notched frequency at 193 GHz. Another stretchable SPP resonator serves as the equivalent electric dipole, operating from 284 GHz to 256 GHz in 1∼1.2 stretchable states. By loading three SPP resonators, the SPP waveguide can achieve a passband for the initial state, and a tunable stopband is introduced under 1.1 and 1.2 stretchable states. The proposed stretchable method provides a promising solution for planar terahertz components and systems with reconfigurable functions.

Circularly polarized beam-scanning leaky wave antenna based on a slow-wave substrate integrated waveguide

A circularly polarized (CP) beam-scanning leaky wave antenna (LWA) based on a slow-wave substrate integrated waveguide (SW-SIW) is presented in this paper. The SW effect is realized by introducing a spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP), excited by periodic etched 45° tilted slots on the top metallic layer of an SIW. With extra delta modulation, the electromagnetic waves radiate through the etched slots and scan continuously from a backward to forward direction as the frequency changes. Taking advantage of the tilted slots and relative displacement between the upper and lower slots, the direction of the electric field of the radiated waves and phase difference between them are adjustable, making a CP characteristic available. Both the simulated and measured results show the proposed LWA exhibits good performance. The total scanning angle reaches 70°, and the average gain is 8.9 dBi from 9.5 GHz to 11.7 GHz. The CP characteristic is verified through the axial ratio of less than 3 during the operating frequency range. A simple structure, compact size, and good performance make the proposed design promising for a compact wireless communication system.

Anderson localized transport in non-Hermitian spoof surface plasmon polariton structures

Anderson localization, a fundamental wave phenomenon, is a challenging problem in quasiparticle transport, exacerbated in the presence of dissipation. Of late, however, a few demonstrations of Anderson localization in non-Hermitian structures have been made. In the domain of electromagnetics of structured materials, spoof surface plasmon polaritons are a very interesting concept where structured metallic surfaces sustain bound states even at very low frequencies. The metallic non-Hermiticity, in an environment of possible disorder, makes this system an interesting case-study for mesoscopic transport, although the idea of disordered structures for spoof plasmons is not commonly encountered in literature. Here, we present experimental evidence of Anderson localization in hybrid polariton–photon states within a disordered, non-Hermitian environment. Disorder is introduced by perturbing the periodic microstructure while maintaining surface confinement. Localization enhances the plasmonic intensity by about a factor of three as compared to the conventional periodic structure. We experimentally characterize the intensity distribution, dispersion properties, and generalized conductance within the Anderson localized regime. A significant decrease in both localization length and its fluctuations is observed with increasing disorder strength. The inverse participation ratio shows the anticipated linear dependency on localization length. Our results offer experimental proof of Anderson localization in hybrid polariton–photon states, showcasing the influence of disorder in boosting plasmonic intensity. This elucidates potential applications in fields requiring controlled wave transport in disordered settings.

Phase-Controllable Spoof Surface Plasmon Coupling From Bull's Eye Aperture to Planar Silicon Waveguide in the Terahertz Band

Phase-Controllable Spoof Surface Plasmon Coupling From Bull's Eye Aperture to Planar Silicon Waveguide in the Terahertz Band

Terahertz Liquid Sensing With Spoof Surface Plasmons Based on High-Contrast Gratings

Terahertz Liquid Sensing With Spoof Surface Plasmons Based on High-Contrast Gratings

A Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons Filter with Controllable Negative Slope Equalization Based on Surface Resistance

This paper presents a novel spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) filter integrated with controllable negative slope equalization. Different from traditional microwave filters, two microwave functions - amplitude compensation and interference suppression - are integrated into one device by depositing a lossy indium tin oxide (ITO) film on the rectangular corrugated stub of the SSPP unit. The key point of negative slope equalization benefits from the surface resistance of the ITO film, and the circuit model and behavior are analyzed in detail. Based on the principle, a prototype of a SSPP filter operating from S to C band is designed and fabricated. The measurement results show that the attenuation in the passband increases almost linearly from 3.5 GHz (−4.8 dB) to 6.9 GHz (−15.4 dB), indicating that −10.6 dB equalization is achieved. The improved S21 is attributed to the good impedance matching by sputtering the ITO film on the rectangular metal strip rather than the central strip. Due to the natural low-pass property of SSPPs, the high-order parasitic band is suppressed above the cut-off frequency of 8.5 GHz. The analyses, simulations and measurements show that the proposed SSPP filter is provided with an additional ability to compensate for positive amplitude fluctuation in wideband antennas.