Absorbing layers are essential to advancements in technologies like energy harvesting, stealth systems, and communication networks. These layers efficiently capture electromagnetic waves across wide frequency ranges, enabling the creation of sustainable, self-powered devices such as remote sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) systems. In stealth technology, absorbing layers reduce radar visibility, enhancing the performance of aircraft and naval systems. They also play a vital role in communication networks by minimizing stray signals and mitigating electromagnetic interference, making them indispensable in today’s interconnected world.
The demand for ultra-thin absorbing layers with broader bandwidths and greater functionality has grown as technology advances. These layers must deliver higher performance while maintaining compact designs. However, a theoretical upper limit exists on the bandwidth-to-thickness ratio for metal-backed, passive, linear, and time-invariant absorbing layers. Current absorbers, regardless of their frequency range or material thickness, fall significantly short of this limit, leaving much of the potential in passive and linear systems untapped.
In a new research paper published on January 21 in Nature Communications, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Professor Younes Ra’di and his research team introduced a new concept for designing ultra-thin absorbers that enables absorbing layers with a record-high bandwidth-to-thickness ratio, potentially several times greater than that of absorbers designed using conventional approaches. Absorbers designed based on this concept can achieve a bandwidth-to-thickness ratio arbitrarily close to the ultimate bound. Utilizing this concept, they designed and experimentally verified an absorber yielding a very high bandwidth-to-thickness ratio.
“Our findings have the potential to make significant contributions to various industries, including defense, energy harvesting, and advanced communication systems, by addressing critical challenges in electromagnetic absorption technology,” says Ra’di.
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