A triple-band, polarization- and incident angle-independent microwave metamaterial absorber with interference theory

We present the design, fabrication and characterization of an ultrathin triple-band metamaterial absorber (MMA) in the microwave frequencies. The unit cell of the MMA consists of three different sizes of electric split ring resonators (eSRRs) and continuous metal film separated by only 1 mm dielectric substrate. The single-band MMA of this structure is firstly investigated. Then, by tuning the scale factor of the unit cells, the proposed triple-band MMA achieves absorption peaks at 9.85 GHz, 13.05 GHz and 14.93 GHz, respectively. Electric field distributions at three resonant frequencies are investigated to qualitatively analyze the loss mechanism. The further simulated and experimental results indicate that the proposed MMA is also polarization- and incident angle-independent. Finally, the interference theory is introduced to quantitatively analyze the MMA, which provides good insight into the physics behind the absorbing structure. To calculate the absorption rates accurately, we employ a simulation strategy make the near-field coupling between two metallic layers get back (compensation method). The measured absorption spectra show an excellent agreement with the theoretical calculation and simulation results. Therefore, the explanation to the physical mechanism of the triple-band MMA is presented and verified. Copyright EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016