Design of a compact metamaterial absorber with wide angular stability and polarisation insensitive for C, X and broad Ku band applications

Abstract The article presents the design and development of a metamaterial-based microwave absorber having polarisation insensitivity, broad angle of incidence, low profile, and compactness in the microwave frequency range. The unit cell focuses to achieve maximum absorption at C-, X- and broad Ku-bands. The structure is simulated and the results are analysed for different angles of polarisation and angle of incidence. The dimension of the proposed structure is ultrathin and compact having an overall dimension of 8 mm × 8 mm × 0.8 mm. The dimensions are optimized in such a fashion to achieve three different peaks at three different bands thereby making the triple-band behaviour of the metamaterial absorber possible. The structure is providing absorption of 99.14% absorption at 6.08 GHz (C-Band) while absorption of 98.29% is achieved at 9.49 GHz (X-band) and 265 MHz bandwidth with above 95% absorption from 16.57 GHz to 16.83 GHz (Ku-Band) in the microwave regime. The absorber patch is a composition of square ring patches and a central square ring annexed with triangles on four sides, the split ring providing a combinational effect witnessing the desired absorption at designated frequencies. The unit cell dimension at a lower cut-off frequency is 0.162 λlowest. The proposed structure is verified for polarisation sensitivity and has a wide angle of incidence. The structure is experimentally verified for results and is found to be in close agreement with simulated ones. The compactness of structure with the attainment of the highest form of absorption in different bands including the 265 MHz high absorption band provides the scope of applicability in various engineering applications at microwave regimes.