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A popular absorbing structure, often referred to as Perfect Metamaterial Absorber, comprising metallic periodic pattern over a thin low-loss grounded substrate is studied by resorting to an efficient transmission line model. This approach allows the derivation of simple and reliable closed formulas describing the absorption mechanism of the subwavelength structure. The analytic form of the real part of the input impedance is explicitly derived in order to explain why moderate losses of the substrate is sufficient to achieve matching with free space, that is, perfect absorption. The effect of the constituent parameters for tuning the working frequency and tailoring the absorption bandwidth is addressed. It is also shown that the choice of highly capacitive coupled elements allows obtaining the largest possible bandwidth whereas a highly frequency selective design is achieved with low capacitive elements like a cross array. Finally, the angular stability of the absorbing structure is investigated., Comment: Accepted for publication on IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation

High-Impedance Surfaces (HIS) comprising lossy Frequency Selective Surfaces (FSS) are employed to design thin electromagnetic absorbers. The structure, despite its typical resonant behavior, is able to perform a very wideband absorption in a reduced thickness. Losses in the frequency selective surface are introduced by printing the periodic pattern through resistive inks and hence avoiding the typical soldering of a large number of lumped resistors. The effect of the surface resistance of the FSS and dielectric substrate characteristics on the input impedance of the absorber is discussed by means of a circuital model. It is shown that the optimum value of surface resistance is affected both by substrate parameters (thickness and permittivity) and by FSS element shape. The equivalent circuit model is then used to introduce the working principles of the narrowband and the wideband absorbing structure and to derive the best-suited element for wideband absorption. Finally, the experimental validation of the presented structures is presented., Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures

In this letter, the bandwidth of high-impedance surfaces (HISs) is discussed by an equivalent circuit approach. Even if these surfaces have been employed for almost 10 years, it is sometimes unclear how to choose the shape of the frequency selective surface (FSS) on the top of the grounded slab in order to achieve the largest possible bandwidth. Here, we will show that the conventional approach describing the HIS as a parallel connection between the inductance given by the grounded dielectric substrate and the capacitance of the FSS may induce inaccurate results in the determination of the operating bandwidth of the structure. Indeed, in order to derive a more complete model and to provide a more accurate estimate of the operating bandwidth, it is also necessary to introduce the series inductance of the FSS.We will present the explicit expression for defining the bandwidth of a HIS, and we will show that the reduction of the FSS inductance results in the best choice for achieving wide operating bandwidth in correspondence with a given frequency., Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures

In this letter, an approach for designing a tunable and steerable antenna is presented. The antenna model is based on a wideband bow-tie radiating element mounted above an active Artificial Magnetic Conductor (AMC). The AMC geometry consists of a Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) printed on a thin grounded dielectric slab in which some chip-set varactor diodes are placed between the metallic elements and the backing plane through vias. The resulting antenna can be tuned over the S-Band by simply changing all varactor capacitances through an appropriate biasing voltage. Moreover, this structure can operate a beam scanning over each working frequency by applying an appropriate biasing voltage to the active elements of the AMC surface in accordance to leaky radiation principles. The low profile active antenna is characterized by an overall thickness of 5.32 mm, which corresponds to approximately lambda/24 at the centre of the operating band., Comment: 4 pages, 13 figures

In this paper a planar electromagnetic absorber is introduced whose performance is maintained over a wide change of the incidence angle for both TE and TM polarization. The absorber comprises an array of patches over a grounded dielectric slab, with clear advantage in terms of manufacturability. It is shown that a high value of the relative permittivity of the substrate is essential for the operation of the absorber. The main contribution of the paper is to demonstrate and practically use the presence of an additional resonance of high-impedance surfaces when the plasma frequency of the wire medium comprising metallic vias in the dielectric substrate is close to the original resonance of the high-impedance surface. The presence of the vias between FSS and the ground plane is discussed both for the case of a high-permittivity absorber and for a low permittivity one. The radius of the vias influences the oblique incidence TM absorption, and when properly designed, the insertion of the vias result in bandwidth enlargement and higher absorption.