Design, simulation, and experimental validation of a wideband flexible metamaterial absorber for gigahertz electromagnetic waves

Abstract

This study addresses the challenge of mitigating electromagnetic interference (EMI) in telecommunications and radar systems by designing, simulating, and experimentally validating a wideband flexible metamaterial absorber (MMA) for gigahertz-frequency electromagnetic waves (EMWs). EMI is critical as it can severely impact the performance and reliability of electronic systems. Traditional absorbers often struggle to maintain high performance across a broad frequency range, especially under varying polarization and incidence angles. To address this issue, we developed a novel MMA with a simple, single-layer design optimized for wideband absorption over a 10 GHz frequency range. Constructed with a polyethylene terephthalate dielectric layer separating spiral coil resonators from a bottom copper layer, this configuration ensures polarization insensitivity for both transverse electric and transverse magnetic waves. Numerical simulations were used to optimize the design parameters, focusing on maximizing absorption efficiency across the targeted frequency range and varying incidence angles. Experimental validation was conducted to verify the absorber’s performance, with results showing excellent agreement with simulations. This research underscores the importance of experimental verification in validating the performance of MMAs and highlights their potential for real-world applications in absorbing EMWs.