New compact and wide-band high-impedance surface

C.R. Simovski'vz, A.A. Sochava3, and S.A. Tketyakov*

'Physics Department, St. Petemburg Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics
Sablinskaya 14, 197101, St. Petershurg, Russia, [email protected]
%die Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology, P.O. 3000 HUT, Finland
3Fladiophysics Department, St. Petershurg Polytechnical University, Russia

Abstract

In this paper we suggest a new high-impedance surface (HIS) for applications

in antenna and microwave techniques. The resonant frequency of our structure
is comparable with that of the multi-layered mushroom structure, however the
resonant band of our structure is much wider. Another advantage is the angular
and polarization stability of the resonance. We present an analytical model for
the surface and the results of numerical simulations.

1 Theory
The basic high-impedance surfaces (HIS) described in [l]and [2] exhibit high reac-
tive surface impedance near their resonant frequencies. In this regime, the structures
operate as magnetic walls. However, when these structures are illuminated by plane
waves, their properties depend on the wave polarization and on the incidence angle.
Also, it is difficult (due to size restrictions and manufacture tolerances) to realize
structures with resonant frequencies U, below 1-2 GHz. Both these shorts restrict
applications of high-impedance surfaces in antenna techniques and integrated mi-
crowave circuits. The multi-level mushroom structure [3] has the resonance at a
lower frequency compared t o the simple mushroom structure. However, U, signif-
icantly changes versus the incidence angle 0 for the TEpolarized incident fields.
Also, this structure described in terms of effective circuit parameters has a small
effective inductance LO and a high capacitance CO,which results in a very narrow
resonant frequency band.

To obtain a significantly reduced U,, a rather large relative bandwidth Au/w, and
a stable value of wT with respect to changes of the wave polarization and to the
incidence angle variations we suggested to use a grid of small scatterers with a
resonant magnetic polarizability [4]. The main application of such layers can be
reduction of reflection from thin absorbing coverings of metal objects. The parallel
resonance of the structure surface impedance is mainly determined by t h e properties
of individual scatterers. The interaction of magnetic dipoles in a dense array is
practically quasi-static. Therefore, the wave polarization and incidence angle are
not important, and angular stability of wr is expected. The resonant inclusions can
be realized as C-particles (broken loops loaded by two parallel strips forming the
loading capacitance) [4]. It has been shown that the magnetic dipole in a C-particle
dominates at the resonant frequency (determined by the LC-parameters of the
particle), and the grid behaves like a magnetic wall. Other small scatterers with
a resonant magnetic polarizability are the well-known split-ring resonators (SRRs).
However, the structure containing a grid of SRRs or C-particles near a ground

02004 IEEE
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 Top view

Front view

Figure 1: Elements of a new HIS. Two variants of the structure geometry are pre-
sented. Left: that with triangular patches. Right: that with square patches.

Figure 2: The equivalent scheme of the HIS

plane possesses two disadvantages. First, every particle has a non-zero electric
dipole polarizability which leads to a shift of w, to higher frequencies. Second, it
is technically difficult to manufacture. Both these shorts are absent in the new
structure drawn on Fig. 1. The capacitive load of a loop scatterer is formed by two
parallel-plate capacitors between the patches and the ground. Here, a loop is formed
by two vias connected by a horizontal strip on the top of the structure. Every unit
cell (the cell size is denoted as D ) contains two orthogonal loops formed by a metal
cross.

The standard printed-board circuit (PBC), e.g. a teflon layer with twsside metal-
lization, thickness h = 2 mm and permittivity 2 = 2.4 - j 2 . can be used to
prepare a patch array on the lower side of the PBC and a n array of crosses on the
upper one. The four ends of every cross are connected to the patches by metal vias.
A thin dielectric film (e.g., a standard teflon film with the thickness A = 75 pm)
separates the patches from the ground plane.

The analysis of the structure becomes rather easy when one applies the image a p
proach. Every loop complemented by its mirror image is a symmetrically loaded
rectangular loop with the sizes d x 2 ( A + h ) , see Fig. 2. The loops are embedded into

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a dielectric layer with the double thickness 2(A +h). The electric field is zero at the
loop center (in the plane z = 0) and the loop can be considered as a horizontal mag-
netic dipole excited by an external magnetic field. The electric polarization of the
loop is quadrupolar and can be neglected. The problem of the plane-wave impinging
on our HIS is replaced by the problem of two plane waves illuminating a symmetric
array of rectangular loops. The polarizability of a single loop can be found in terms
of its effective capacitance CO(that between the patch and its mirror image divided
by 2) and its effective inductance LO (that of the rectangular loop). The current
induced in the loop is practically uniform a t low frequencies ( k h , kD < 1) and is
equal to
&
I= (1)
j(wLo+&)+r'
Here & = -jwp0SH'OC is the electromotive force due t o the local magnetic field HIoc
exciting the reference loop with the area S. Current (1) determines the magnetic
moment m = p o l s . A rather small value T is the loop radiation resistance which
does not influence to the result (it cancels with the imaginary part of the interaction
constant of the array). The local field HIoc is the sum of the external magnetic field
Hext and the interaction field Hint. As it is clear from Fig. 2, Hext is the field of
two waves transmitted to the center of the doubled dielectric layer, and Hintis the
field produced by all the other magnetic dipoles m. The interaction field can be
found through the known interaction factor C of dense arrays of magnetic dipoles
[5]. C is practically the magnet-static parameter which is weakly disturbed by the
presence of the dielectric layer. We take into account the effective dielectric layer of
thickness 2h while calculating the radiation of the effective magnetic sheet referred
to the plane z = 0. Here we present the main result for the reflection coefficient R
from the whole structure (for the case knh < 1, k n D 1, where n = 6):

The other notations in ( 2 ) are as follows:

If the dielectric is lossless, A is real and then the absolute value of the reflection
coefficient is unity. When w -+ 0, we obtain arg{R} = s. The resonance arg{R} = 0
holds at wT = WO/-. The factor -expresses a shift of the resonance with
respect to that of a single scatterer due to interaction of particles in the array.

2 N u m e r i c a l s t u d y a n d conclusions

To validate the model and to obtain more details we have made numerical sim-
ulations using the HFSS code. An example of the validation for the case of the
normal incidence is presented in Fig. 3. The solid and dashed lines show the real
and imaginary parts of R, respectively. This result corresponds to the case shown in
Fig. 1 on the left, D = 4 mm, the cross-shaped elements are made from two strips
of length 6 mm and width 0.2 mm, the pin diameter is 0.4 mm, the patch side is 1.8

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Figure 3: Reflection coefficient for the normal incidence. The real part is shown by
the solid line, and the imaginary part by the dashed line. Left: Analytical model.
Right: HFSS simulations.

mm, and the separation between the patches is 0.2 mm. The other parameters are
given above. The resonance takes place at w, = 2 GHz. The relative resonant band-
width is A w / w , = 0.2 (simulations) and Aw/w, = 0.4 (theory). The angular and
polarization stability that we expected has been confirmed. The resonant frequency
deviation is very small for both TE and TM-cases. The relative shift of w, does
not exceed 0.04 for 0 varying from 0 to ~ / 3 and
, the shape of the phase reflection
diagram also stays practically stable versus the incidence angle variation.

We can conclude that the proposed structure possesses significant advantages com-
pared to the multilevel mushroom structure with the same resonant frequency. The
new HIS is prospective for antenna applications, for example, in mobile telecommu-
nication systems, and deserves further studies.

References
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