Broadband polarization-insensitive absorber based on gradient structure metamaterial

Metamaterial absorber (MA) is a hot spot in the research on electromagnetic absorbers. In this paper, a metamaterial based broadband polarization-insensitive absorber is proposed. The absorber is fabricated with FR-4 dielectric substrate foiled with copper. The top layer of the unit cell of the MA is composed of resistors mounted crosswire and gradient split ring resonator (SRR) with a square metal patch (SMP) in it. The overall structure is symmetrical, which makes the MA polarization-insensitive. The gradient SRRs and SMPs resonate at adjacent frequencies resulting in broadband property. The absorption rates of the MA for TE and TM wave are calculated through the simulated S-parameters. The bandwidth is 9.9 GHz, where the absorption rate maintains 60% up to 98.28% in both cases and the relative bandwidth is 57.13%. Both broadband and polarization-insensitivity properties are achieved, which demonstrate promising application prospect of the proposed MA in shielding and stealth technology. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.