1172 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL.

14, 2015

An Ultrawideband Ultrathin Metamaterial Absorber

Based on Circular Split Rings
Saptarshi Ghosh, Student Member, IEEE, Somak Bhattacharyya, Student Member, IEEE,
Devkinandan Chaurasiya, and Kumar Vaibhav Srivastava, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—A simple design model for making ultrawideband ul- material properties of the homogenized structure, such that the
trathin metamaterial absorber has been presented in microwave effective permittivity and effective permeability of the structure
frequency regime. The proposed structure is composed of two con- become equal to each other at certain frequencies [5]. This re-
centric circular split rings imprinted on a metal-backed dielectric
substrate. A 10-dB absorption bandwidth from 7.85 to 12.25 GHz sults the input impedance of the structure to match closely with
covering the entire X-band has been observed in numerical simu- the free space impedance of air, thereby reducing the reflection
lation under normal incidence. The absorptivities of the proposed from the absorber structure.
structure have been investigated under different polarization an- Despite ultrathin nature and near-unity absorption, the meta-
gles as well as oblique incidence. The electromagnetic field distri- material absorbers suffer from narrow operating bandwidth
butions and surface current plots have been illustrated to analyze
the absorption mechanism of the proposed structure. The proposed as they are designed using resonance phenomenon [5]. Some
absorber has been fabricated and its performance is experimen- single layer bandwidth-enhanced absorber structures have
tally verified at different angles of incidence and polarizations of been presented with moderate bandwidths [7], [8]. However,
incident electromagnetic wave. The designed absorber is compact, their patterns are complicated, and it is difficult to simultane-
ultrathin (only thick corresponding to center frequency) and ously control each resonant frequency of such multiresonant
provides an alternative to construct broadband absorber for many
potential applications. structures. Another approach for a broadband absorber is by
combining two or more different resonant structures to form a
Index Terms—Broadband absorber, circular split ring, metama- new resonator [9], [10]. Although this type of absorber exhibits
terial, microwave absorber.
bandwidth-enhanced absorption with simpler structure geom-
etry, the unit cell dimensions are too large to implement them
I. INTRODUCTION in practical applications. Some absorber designs also comprise
multiple vertically stacked metallic layers, but the thickness is

E LECTROMAGNETIC metamaterials (MTM) [1] are ar-

tificial composite structures, which can attain its proper-
ties from the unit cell structure. Due to their attractive proper-
also a major limitation in those designs [11]–[13].
In this letter, a novel ultrawideband ultrathin metamaterial
absorber has been proposed, which exhibits above 90% absorp-
ties in sub-wavelength scale, metamaterials are nowadays ex- tion bandwidth for the frequency range of 7.85–12.25 GHz.
perimentally used in many applications like perfect lens [2], Two circular split rings have been embedded one inside an-
antenna [3], cloaking [4], and so forth. Metamaterial-based ab- other, where the outer ring provides dual-band absorption and
sorbers can be used as potential alternatives of conventional ab- the bandwidth is considerably increased by the inner one. The
sorbers due to their ultrathin thickness, near unity absorption electromagnetic field distributions and the surface current plots
properties, simple manufacturing procedures, and increasing ef- at the absorption peaks have been illustrated to analyze the ab-
fectiveness [5], [6]. sorption mechanism of the broadband absorber. The designed
These metamaterial absorber structures are generally com- structure has been studied for different angles of polarization
posed of a periodic array of top metallic patch and ground metal under normal incidence as well as for wide incident angles. The
plane separated by dielectric substrate. At resonance frequency, radii as well as the rotational angles of the splits of the circular
the top frequency selective surface (FSS) is electrically excited, rings have been varied to observe their contributions to the
whereas the incident magnetic field excites the dielectric sub- broadband absorption. The structure has been fabricated using
strate forming circulating flow of surface current. These elec- printed circuit board (PCB) technology and the experimental
tromagnetic fields can simultaneously manipulate the effective results are in good agreement with the simulated responses.
Compared to the metamaterial absorbers presented before,
Manuscript received November 15, 2014; accepted January 19, 2015. Date of
the proposed absorber has the advantages of ultrathin nature
publication January 23, 2015; date of current version May 22, 2015. This work ( ), miniaturization, ultrawideband coverage as well as
was supported in part by DRDO, India, under Project No. DLJ/TC/1025/I/30 experimental verification.
and ISRO-IITK Space Technology Cell under Project No. STC/EE/2014087.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, In- II. DESIGN AND SIMULATED RESULTS
dian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208016, India
(e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; Fig. 1 shows the design of the proposed broadband absorber.
[email protected]; [email protected]).
The single unit cell consists of a top metallic patch and bottom
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this letter are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. ground plane separated by dielectric substrate. FR-4 substrate
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LAWP.2015.2396302 (relative permittivity and dielectric loss tangent

1536-1225 © 2015 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
GHOSH et al.: ULTRAWIDEBAND ULTRATHIN METAMATERIAL ABSORBER BASED ON CIRCULAR SPLIT RINGS 1173

11.18 GHz, the outer ring also contributes highly, although the
inner circular ring has a small contribution at this frequency.
The top and bottom surface current distributions at the peak
absorption frequencies 8.36 and 11.18 GHz have also been
shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5. It clearly depicts that in both the
absorption frequencies, the surface current is mainly distributed
in the outer circular ring, while a small amount of current flows
through the inner ring at the higher frequency. In both the
absorption peaks, these surface currents form circulating loops
around the incident magnetic field, thereby forming strong
magnetic resonance. The electric resonance is coupled with
the top metallic patch at these absorption frequencies and high
Fig. 1. Front view of the proposed ultrawideband ultrathin unit cell structure
absorption has been realized.
with geometrical dimensions: , , , , To observe the contribution of the two rings in the absorp-
, (unit: mm). tion bandwidth, the radius of a single circular split ring has been
varied from 1.8 mm (equal to inner ring radius of the proposed
) has been used as dielectric with thickness of structure) to 3.15 mm (equal to outer ring radius of the proposed
2 mm. The top layer is constituted of two concentric circular structure) as shown in Fig. 6(a). It is observed that a single cir-
rings with each ring having two splits. The splits are oriented cular ring with the splits having radius of 3.15 mm provides
in orthogonal positions along the diagonals of the unit cell two absorption peaks at 8.12 and 12.39 GHz, with a bandwidth
structure. Both the top patch and bottom ground are made of of 6.36 GHz (7.58–13.94 GHz) above 80% absorption. On the
copper with conductivity S/m and a thickness contrary, the circular split ring with radius of 1.8 mm gives rise
of 0.035 mm. The dimensions of the unit cell along with the to two absorption peaks having 51.34% and 97.98% absorptiv-
directions of field vectors are shown in Fig. 1. ities at 17.21 and 24.08 GHz, respectively, with a 50% absorp-
In order to analyze an infinite array of the proposed absorber, tion bandwidth of 10.18 GHz. Since the absorption peaks due to
the unit cell is simulated with periodic boundary conditions the individual split rings are well apart from each other, there is
using ANSYS HFSS. The absorptivity ( ) can be expressed minor change in absorption frequencies of the outer ring when
as: , where is the reflected the inner ring is embedded inside. The two absorption peaks at
power and is the transmitted power. Since the back side 8.12 and 12.39 GHz due to the sole outer ring have been shifted
is covered with metal plane, there is no transmission ( to 8.36 and 11.18 GHz, respectively, in the proposed structure
). Therefore, the absorptivity can be obtained by minimizing due to mutual coupling. Since both the peaks come closer, the
the reflectance from the absorber structure. It is observed from minimum absorption in the intermediate frequency range in-
Fig. 2(a) that the reflection coefficient is less than -10 dB in the creases, thereby satisfying 90% absorption bandwidth for the
entire X-band (8–12 GHz), and the absorption bandwidth above entire 7.85–12.25 GHz frequency range. Thus, it is clearly un-
90% ranges from 7.85 to 12.25 GHz, which is 44% at 10 GHz. derstood that the two absorption peaks of the proposed absorber
The two absorption peaks are also visible at 8.36 and 11.18 GHz structure is solely provided by the outer circular ring, whereas
with absorptivities of 99.66% and 99.92%, respectively. the overall absorption bandwidth has been effectively controlled
In order to demonstrate the polarization behavior of the by the inner circular ring.
broadband absorber, the structure has been studied under dif- Another critical parameter to discuss is the effects of rotation
ferent polarization angles from 0 to 90 in the steps of 15 , of the splits of the inner ring with respect to the outer ring
as shown in Fig. 2(b). The simulated absorptivity plot shows and vice-versa. When the inner circular ring has been rotated
that the proposed structure is two-fold symmetric, i.e. the ab- keeping the outer ring fixed, the lower absorption peak (which
sorptivity gradually decreases with higher polarization angles, is solely controlled by the outer ring) remains unchanged,
reaches minimum at 45 , an then again increases to end up at whereas the higher absorption peak starts decreasing as shown
maximum absorption for 90 polarization angle. The proposed in Fig. 6(b). On the other hand, Fig. 6(c) shows the rotation of
absorber has also been examined for different incident angles outer circular split ring keeping the inner ring fixed. Since the
(upto 45 ) under TE polarization as shown in Fig. 2(c). It is outer ring controls both the absorption peaks, with changing
seen that with increasing oblique incident angle, the broadband the angle ( ), both the absorption peaks start deviating and
absorption response gradually changes to dual-band absorption. they become minimum and maximum at an angle of 45 and
90 , respectively.
III. ABSORPTION MECHANISM
In order to gain a better insight about the absorption mech- IV. FABRICATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
anism, the electric and magnetic field distributions have been In order to experimentally demonstrate the proposed ab-
illustrated in Fig. 3 at the two absorption peaks, viz. 8.36 and sorber, a prototype consisting of unit cells, as shown in
11.18 GHz. Analyzing the results, it is clearly observed that Fig. 7(a), has been fabricated on a 2 mm thick FR-4 substrate
at the lower resonance of around 8.36 GHz, the outer circular using printed circuit board (PCB) technology. An enlarged
ring is the primary contributor and provides a highly localized portion of the fabricated structure is shown in Fig. 7(b). To
electromagnetic field around the ring. At the higher frequency measure its reflection spectra, two linearly polarized horn
1174 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 14, 2015

Fig. 2. Simulated absorptivity (a) under normal incidence, (b) for different polarization angles ( ) under normal incidence, and (c) for different incidence angles
( ) under TE polarization of the proposed structure.

Fig. 3. Simulated electric field distribution at (a) 8.36 and (b) 11.18 GHz and magnetic field distribution at (c) 8.36 and (d) 11.18 GHz of the proposed absorber
structure.

Initially, a copper sheet of identical dimension has been

placed in the anechoic chamber and the reflection coefficient
from the plate has been used to calibrate the test environment.
The reflection from the fabricated structure is then measured
and the difference between the two measured results gives rise
to the actual reflection from the fabricated absorber structure. In
Fig. 7(c), the measured absorptivity is compared with the sim-
ulated response. The measured 10-dB bandwidth is 4.04 GHz
from 8.08 to 12.12 GHz, which matches very well with the
simulated results. A slight deviation between the simulated
Fig. 4. Surface current distribution on top surface at (a) 8.36 and (b) 11.18 GHz and measured results can be explained due to the fabrication
of the proposed structure.
tolerance and nonlinear behavior of the dielectric substrate at
higher frequencies.
To investigate the polarization-dependence of the proposed
absorber, the fabricated structure has been rotated around its
axis (from 0 to 90 ), and the measured absorptivity response
is shown in Fig. 8(a). The measured result exhibits almost
same absorption bandwidth for 0 and 90 polarization angles,
whereas the absorptivity is decreased to minimum at 45
polarization. Fig. 8(b) shows the measured absorptivities for
different incident angles under TE polarization. It is evident
from Fig. 8(b) that at higher incident angles the broadband
Fig. 5. Surface current distribution on bottom surface at (a) 8.36 and absorption gradually changes to dual-band response, which has
(b) 11.18 GHz of the proposed structure.
good agreement with the simulated results.

antennas (LB-10180-SF), with operating bandwidth from 1 to V. CONCLUSION

18 GHz, have been used to transmit and receive the electro- An ultrawideband ultrathin ( thick corresponding to
magnetic waves. The network analyzer used for measurements free space wavelength and thick with respect to FR-4
is Agilent Technologies N5230 A with 10 MHz to 50 GHz dielectric at the center frequency) metamaterial-based X-band
frequency range. absorber has been presented with two concentric circular split
GHOSH et al.: ULTRAWIDEBAND ULTRATHIN METAMATERIAL ABSORBER BASED ON CIRCULAR SPLIT RINGS 1175

Fig. 6. Simulated absorptivity (a) for different radii of a single circular split ring. Absorptivity of the proposed structure for different rotational angles of the
(b) inner circular ring keeping outer ring fixed and (c) outer circular ring with inner ring fixed.

ture has been compared with previously proposed absorbers

in Table I and it is clearly observed that the bandwidth of
the proposed structure has been significantly increased as
compared to [7], [8], and [9]. Although [13] and [14] have
higher FWHMs compared to the proposed structure, but their
thicknesses are very large. Therefore, the proposed structure
is a good alternative of other broadband absorbers and can be
used for many potential applications such as stealth technology,
Fig. 7. (a) Fabricated broadband structure, (b) its enlarged view, and (c) com-
parison of simulated and measured absorptivity under normal incidence. electromagnetic interference (EMI), electromagnetic compati-
bility (EMC) and phase imaging.

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