Wide-Angle Broadband Rasorber for Switchable and Conformal Application

A novel wide-angle and broadband rasorber is presented incorporating several advances. To broaden the bandwidth, we introduce a new type of frequency selective surface (FSS) in the bottom layer of the rasorber. This strategy increases the upper and lower absorption bandwidths while reducing the insertion loss at transmission window. Furthermore, a new top resistive layer is proposed via the loading of electric field coupled resonator elements on a cross-dipole structure. The proposed design offers both, an angularly stable performance and a thin structure that can be fabricated on a single dielectric substrate. To enable switchability, p-i-n diodes are employed and a reconfigurable rasorber/absorber is designed where a new concept of lossy/lossless top layer is investigated and established as the best choice among other switchable designs. Equivalent circuit models are constructed for both active and passive designs to provide physical insight into their operation. Finally, to enable deployment of the rasorber over curved geometries, these advances are incorporated into a conformal structure. Three separate prototypes are fabricated and good agreement is obtained between design predictions and experimental results.

Automated summary

This article presents a novel wide-angle and broadband rasorber with advanced features such as expanded bandwidth and reduced insertion loss, achieved through the use of a new FSS and top resistive layer. The design also incorporates p-i-n diodes for switchability and offers excellent performance and structure design.