Abstract
This paper presents the feasibility of deploying a large-scale tunable absorber based on discrete plasma-shells. The proposed conductor-baced absorber is realized by integrating ceramic gas-encapsulating chambers (plasma-shells) and a closely coupled lossy resonant layer that also serves as a biasing electrode to sustain the plasma. Two topologies comprising lossy inductive or capacitive layers are investigated to realize tunable microwave absorbers. The plasma is sustained by a sinusoidal radio frequency (RF) voltage source coupled directly through the walls of the plasma-shells. These active frequency-selective absorbers are analyzed using a transmission line approach to provide the working principle and its frequency tuning capability. By varying the voltage of the sustainer, the plasma can be modeled as a lossy, variable, frequency-dependent inductor, providing a dynamic tuning response of the absorption spectral band. A prototype plasma-tuned absorber is fabricated and measured in a free space environment to validate the concept. A good agreement between the equivalent circuit model, full-wave electromagnetic simulation, and the measurement results is obtained.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 8753721 |
Pages (from-to) | 6523-6531 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation |
Volume | 67 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 2019 |
Keywords
- Active high impedance surface
- circuit analog absorber (CAA)
- lossy frequency selective surfaces (FSSs)
- radar cross section (RCS)
- radio frequency (RF) plasma discharge
- tunable absorber
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering