Design and measurement of a tunable metasurface low-frequency radar absorber

Abstract

At the turn of the millennium, developments on metasurfaces lead to a significant step forward in the design of radar absorbing structures, especially at lower frequencies, thanks to a reduced thickness. Still, as with other passive impedance matching systems, they remain constrained in their bandwidth-to-thickness ratio. Fortunately, the recent integration of active electronic components onto metasurfaces has multiplied their functionalities, unlocking new ways to overcome these limitations. For instance, using varactor diodes, which act as variable capacitors, an absorbing metasurface can be rendered tunable to cover a frequency range wider than would any passive system of similar thickness. This is a valuable feature when facing modern frequency-hopping radars. However, the bias-dependent resistance introduced by the varactor diodes can compromise the impedance matching throughout the tunable frequency range. This work, therefore, focuses on the design and measurement of a tunable radar absorbing metasurface using varactor diodes, highlighting the necessity for a joint tuning of capacitance and resistance to grant near-perfect absorption over a wide frequency range.