Y. J. Yoo

Metamaterial-based perfect absorbers

Metamaterials are artificially-engineered materials, possessing properties which are not readily observable in materials existing in nature. Since they show very novel properties such as left-handed behavior, negative refractive index, classical analog of electromagnetically-induced transparency, extraordinary transmission, negative Doppler effect, and so on, they can be used for perfect lens, invisibility cloaking, perfect absorption and transmission, etc. Metamaterial-based perfect absorbers (MMPAs) are promising candidates for the practical application of perfect absorbers. MMPA is usually composed of three layers. The first layer is periodically-arranged metallic patterns, whose structure and geometrical parameters should be carefully adjusted to fulfill the impedance-matching condition with the ambient, allowing no reflection of incident electromagnetic (EM) waves. The second layer is a dielectric layer, which allows a space for the EM waves to be dissipated, and sometimes plays a role of resonance cavity to prolong the time taken by the EM waves inside the second layer. Finally, the third layer is a continuous metallic plate, blocking remnant transmission. For practical usage, several aspects of MMPAs are to be considered seriously. Some of them are broadband operation, polarization-independent response, omni-directional response, and tunability. These aspects are basically determined by the structures of MMPA. Another important aspect is flexibility, which is determined by the material used in the fabrication. In this review, the basic operating principles of MMPAs and brief introduction of recent progresses in the field of MMPAs operating in different frequency ranges (GHz, THz and infrared/visible) are presented. Perspectives and future works for the investigation and the real application of MMPAs are also presented.

Perfect and broad absorption by the active control of electric resonance in metamaterial

Anti-oscillating plasmas have been the key to perfect absorption induced by magnetic resonance. This is an achievement in recent research on metamaterials (MMs), especially in GHz and the lower-frequency regions of electromagnetic waves. Here, a comprehensive view of perfect absorption is introduced by means of both magnetic resonance and electric resonance in meta molecules. A conventional metal-dielectric-metal MM absorber is proposed to obtain dual-band perfect absorption. It is clarified that the mechanism of dual-band absorption is due to fundamental (at 7.2 GHz) and third-order (at 18.7 GHz) magnetic resonances. Finally, we develop triple-band absorption by integrating resistors in to the MM absorber. The electric resonance, under the presence of resistors, matches the impedance of the MM absorber with the air at 13 GHz and gives rise to the new absorption band, with absorption higher than 90%.

Ultra-broadband microwave metamaterial absorber based on resistive sheets

We investigate a broadband perfect absorber for microwave frequencies, with a wide incident angle, using resistive sheets, based on both simulation and experiment. The absorber uses periodically-arranged meta-atoms, consisting of snake-shape metallic patterns and metal planes separated by three resistive sheet layers between four dielectric layers. We demonstrate the mechanism of the broadband by impedance matching with free space, and the distribution of surface currents at specific frequencies. In simulation, the absorption was over 96% in 1.4–6.0 GHz. The corresponding experimental absorption band over 96% was 1.4–4.0 GHz, however, the absorption was lower than 96% in the 4.0–6.0 GHz range because of the rather irregular thickness of the resistive sheets. Furthermore, it works for wide incident angles and is relatively independent of polarization. The design is scalable to smaller sizes in the THz range. The results of this study show potential for real applications in prevention of microwave frequency exposure, with devices such as cell phones, monitors, and microwave equipment.

Reinforced magnetic properties of Ni-doped BiFeO3 ceramic

Multiferroic materials attract considerable interest because of the wide range of potential applications such as spintronic devices, data storage devices and sensors. As a strong candidate for the applications among the limited list of single-phase multiferroic materials, BiFeO3 (BFO) is a quite attractive material due to its multiferroic properties at room temperature (RT). However, BFO is widely known to have large leakage current and small spontaneous polarization due to the existence of crystalline defects such as oxygen vacancies. Furthermore, the magnetic moment of pure BFO is very weak owing to its antiferromagnetic nature. In this paper, the effects of Ni2+ substitution on the magnetic properties of bulk BFO were investigated. BFO, and BiFe0.99Ni0.01O3, BiFe0.98Ni0.02O3 and BiFe0.97Ni0.03O3 (BFNO: Ni-doped BFO) ceramics were prepared by solid-state reaction and rapid sintering, and analyzed by structural and magnetic-property measurements. The leakage current density was measured at RT by using a standard ferroelectric tester. All the Ni-doped BFO samples exhibited the similar rhombohedral perovskite structure (R3c) to that of BFO. The magnetic properties of Ni-doped BFO were much enhanced with respect to BFO prepared at the same conditions, because the enhanced ferromagnetic interaction is caused by the Fe/Ni coupling.

Small-size metamaterial perfect absorber operating at low frequency

A small-size metamaterial perfect absorber operating at low frequency is proposed. Due to the special design, the unit-cell dimension with respect to wavelength is very small, a/λ ~ 1/17, at the absorption frequency of 377 MHz. The absorption frequency is strongly dependent on the length of zigzag wire. In addition, the absorption is more than 94% in a wide range of incident angle of electromagnetic wave up to 50°. The results show that the proposed absorber is promising to be applied into devices in radio region.

Flexible perfect metamaterial absorbers for electromagnetic wave

Abstract The flexible metamaterials (MMs) provide a new field in controlling electromagnetic waves. This paper comprises the MMs made on flexible and elastic substrates, together with the relevant techniques and approaches. The perspective is also described, which includes the possible conversion of investigated MMs into practical devices. For an example of the research and development so far in this fascinating area, by using a planar and flexible MM, the low-frequency perfect absorption has been obtained even with very small unit-cell size in snake-shape structure. These shrunken, deep-sub-wavelength and thin MM absorbers were numerically and experimentally investigated by increasing the inductance. The absorbers are specially designed for absorption peaks around 2 GHz and 400 MHz, which can be used for depressing the EM noise from everyday electronic devices and mobile phones. It has been reported new concept of water droplet-based MM perfect absorber absorbing perfectly electromagnetic wave with water, an eco-friendly material which is very ordinary and plentiful on the earth. If arranging water droplets with particular height and diameter on material surface, meta-properties absorbing electromagnetic wave perfectly in GHz broadband were shown. It was possible to control absorption ratio and absorption wavelength band of electromagnetic wave according to the shape of water droplet and apply to various flexible and/or transparent substrates such as plastic, glass, and paper. These results can lead wide applications to variously civilian and military products in the future by providing perfect absorber of broadband in all products including bendable and transparent materials.

Switching and extension of transmission response, based on bending metamaterials

The electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT)-like effects in planar and non-planar metamaterials (MMs) were investigated for microwave (GHz) frequencies. The specific MMs used in this study consisted of a cut-wire resonator and a ring resonator, where were placed on the top and the bottom layers, respectively. A transmission window was produced, due to the interference between bright- and bright-mode coupling. Using the numerical and the experimental results, we demonstrate that the bending of MM leads to enhanced transmission and bandwidth, as well as an additional EIT-like peak. This provides an effective way of realizing the tunable devices, including the switching sensors.

Flexible metamaterials, comprising multiferroic films

The metamaterial (MM) devices on flexible substrates provide a new dimension in manipulating electromagnetic (EM) waves. This work reports MMs realized on flexible and elastomeric substrates, along with the relevant techniques and approaches. Future directions are mentioned with the promise to translate MMs into practical devices. We also present a multiferroic nano-composite film where BiFeO3 (BFO) nanoparticles (NPs) were evenly dispersed into highly-insulating polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer. The multiferroic (MF) properties of the film were revealed, such as the saturated ferroelectric curves due to the cut-off of current leakage. Moreover, the prepared films show high flexibility and their multiferroicities are preserved well even in a high curved condition, reflecting the possibility for fabricating wearable devices based on MF materials.