JOURNAL OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS, VOLUME 23, ISSUE 1, DECEMBER 2013 1

Design of Pyramidal Absorber Based on Anisotropic Material

A.R. Mallahzadeh and M. Zarei
AbstractIn this article a pyramidal absorber with anisotropic material is presented. In an isotropic material, the material response depends on the relative direction of applied field. In other words the polarization vector can take a different direction with respect to the direction of applied field. The loss tangent of the proposed anisotropic material is considered a diagonal tensor and the influence of each tensor component on the absorber performance is studied. Then, based on these simulations the absorber is designed. Such an absorber is more efficient than the conventional one. According to the simulations performed through CST microwave studio software, the reflectivity of the proposed unit cell pyramidal absorber is 6 dB lower than the conventional one. Index Terms pyramidal absorber, anisotropic, tensor, polarization.

1 INTRODUCTION

icrowave absorbers are normally made of blocks of wave-absorptive material to avoid the reflection of electromagnetic waves incidental on it. Depending on the frequency of operation, they takes many forms. The most common used in the microwave frequency range are the dielectric absorbers. They comes in various designs such as pyramidal absorber, twisted pyramidal absorber, hollow pyramidal absorber, wedge absorber, multilayer dielectric absorber, hybrid dielectric absorber, walkway absorber, and convoluted microwave absorber. Nowadays, most of the electromagnetic anechoic chamber manufacturers offer a standard microwave absorber product that is pyramidal in shape [1]. The primary application for this material is in the construction of anechoic chambers, or for covering test equipment within the chambers. Infact present generation anechoic chambers exhibit excellent broad band suppression of reflected waves in the microwave region using pyramidal absorbers. The low reflections from pyramidal absorbers result from the fact that incident microwaves reflect several times from the blocks before finally being reflected back into free space; since a fraction of incident wave is absorbed at each bounce, the microwaves are very much diminished by the time they reflect back from an array of absorbers. This interpretation of the way pyramid absorbers work for microwaves results from the observation that the wavelengths involved are relatively small in comparison to the size of the absorbing structures, so that quasi-optical reflections occur.

Material that are commonly used for absorber design are for instance, ferrite bless, polystyrene, conducting carbon, and other material with wave-absorption capabilities. Previous investigations related pyramidal microwave absorbers are reported [2], [3], [4]. Low reflection coefficient can be achieved using a single-layer dispersive absorber [5]. Such absorbers can work well in a narrow range of frequencies and the band width of these absorbers is too narrow for our purposes. Using multilayer absorbers, is another approach to minimize reflection in a specified range of frequencies. Design of multilayer absorbers has been successfully performed using cut and try methods, Smith-chart methods [6], and by numerical techniques [7], [8]. The approach of this paper is to design a pyramidal absorber with anisotropic material. This is accomplished by considering the loss tangant property of the material as a diagonal tensor. In such a structure, the incident microwave is very much diminished, so better performance is expected. Also there is no need for multiple layering. It can be mentioned that the simulation results are carried out by CST microwave studio software.

2 DESIGN PRINCIPLE FOR PYRAMIDAL ABSORBER

2.1 Anisotropic Materials Review In this section a model for anisotropic polarizable materials is discussed according to [9]. we wrote down an expression for the work of polarizing a material in an electric field and then assumed linear isotropic behavior to find an expression for the polarization energy in such an idealized material. We introduced the material parameter, , that quantifies how much internal polarization develops for an applied electric field, , [9]:

The Authors are with the Electrical Engineering Department, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.

2013 JOT www.journaloftelecommunications.co.uk

= (1) In an isotropic material, therefore, the underlying material cannot influence the material response and the induced polarization, total polarization, and applied field are all parallel (Fig.1a). In an anisotropic material, the material response depends on the relative direction of the applied field and the crystal orientation physically, the internal dipoles are constrained to lie in particular directions with respect to the underlying material. This is shown in Fig. 1b and Fig. 2. The polarization is not necessarily in the direction of the field but is linearly related to the field direction. Such linear relationships can be written as follows [9]: = or, (2)

Fig. 2. Model of an internal dipole in a crystalline material.

(3)

where is the component of dielectric susceptibility tensor. The second rank tensor, expresses the relation between material response with respect to the axes of its underlying symmetry to the axes of force in a laboratory frame. As we know when a material property is a tensor, there are constraints on the form of the tensor that follow from the symmetry of the underlying material. Similarly, for magnetic susceptibility tensor, one can understand the same relation between induced magnetization density, M, and the applied field, H, as follows [9]:

= or,

(4)

=
where tensor. is the

(5)
component of magnetic susceptibility

(a)

2.2 Absorber Design As mentioned in the previous section when a material property is a tensor, The polarization vector can take a different direction with respect to the direction of applied field (Fig. 2). It can be understood that a pyramidal absorber will have a better performance if it has such a trait. It is noticeable that the reflectivity of an absorber can express the absorbing performance of the material and is a function of the complex permittivity and permeability of the material, and the frequency of the incident wave [10], [11]. In the new design the loss tangent of the material suppose to be a tensor then based on this assumption, a pyramidal absorber is designed. In the first step a unit cell conventional pyramidal absorber is designed then, the new absorber is introduced. Finally based on the new structure, a paramidal absorber with 16 tips per piece is proposed. The design concept for the conventional pyramidal microwave absorber is base on [12], [13]. In this paper, the material of the absorber used is Carbon which its epsilon, is assumed to be equal to 2.6. The chosen based on TDK Standard Material Characteristic for ICT absorber types [14]. It used Carbon plus nonflammable material for its TDK ICT-030 Pyramidal Absorber types. The design has ISO 14644-1 Class 5 for Clean Room Rating, also NRL 8093 and UL94HBF standard for fire retardancy [13]. The pyramidal shaped absorber must be larger compared to the lowest wavelength so that the side to reflect the incident wave and the height of the pyramid must greater than the half wavelength [15]. So the height of pyramidal absorber is set to 236 mm. Pyramidal electromagnetic performance is specified as reflectivity at normal incidence and is stated in dB. The frequency range investigated in this work is from 1.5 GHz to 5 GHz. Fig. 3 shows such a pyramidal absorber to which an x-polarized plane wave radiated. Dimentions of the pyramid are listed in Table 1. TABLE 1 DESIGN SIZE OF THE CONVENTIONAL ABSORBER
Parameter Value (mm) h 236 a 109 b 54

(b)
Fig. 1. Directions of vectors (b) anisotropic material. , and in (a) isotropic material and

polarized plane wave and then the sensivity of each component of the diagonal tensor in (6) to the absorber reflectivity is studied. This survey is done at the frequency of 2 GHz. Results shows that when a y-polarized plane wave radiates to the anisotropic material,

Fig. 3. The structure of the unit cell pyramidal absorber.

Fig. 5. The reflectivity of the proposed unit cell pyramidal absorber for different values of .

Fig. 4. The reflectivity of the unit cell conventional pyramidal absorber.

Using CST microwave studio software the reflectivity of the absorber is simulated and result is shown in Fig. 4. It is noticable that the reflectivity of the designed conventional pyramidal absorber is -13.8 dB at frequency of 2 GHz. Now the new pyramidal absorber is designed based on Fig.3 but with anisotropic material where the loss tangent of the material is a diagonal tensor i.e,

Fig. 6. The reflectivity of the proposed unit cell pyramidal absorber for different values of .

(6)

The parameters , and must be determined. Note that in conventional absorber designed earlier, the loss tangent of the material is assumed to be equal to 0.5. Through a parametric study, the parameters , and can be determined according to their effectiveness on the absorber reflectivity. This work can be accomplished by varying each parameters while the others is kept constant. This is shown in Fig. 5, 6 and 7. From these figures, it is understood that variation in and causes no noticable effect on absorber performance and it is sensitively related to the value of the parameter . This is due to the wave polarization. Another simulation is performed in which the absorber is illuminated through a y-

Fig. 7. The reflectivity of the proposed unit cell pyramidal absorber for different values of .

Fig. 9. The reflectivity of the 16 tips pyramidal absorber.

3
Fig. 8. The configuration of the proposed 16 tips pyramidal absorber.

CONCLUSION

changing in parameters and does not improve the performance of the pyramidal absorber while an small increment in the parameter improves the absorber performance. In the general case when an incident wave with desired polarization radiates to the absorber, if one makes an small increment in and then, the result is an absorber more efficient than usual. For a y-polarized incident wave proposed in this paper, the parameters , and are set to 0.5, 0.7, 0.5 respectively. Through Fig. 4 and 5, it can be found that t he reflectivity of the

An isotropic pyramidal absorber is presented. The loss tangent of the isotropic absorber is a diagonal tensor where its components can be determined according to the wave polarization. From the simulations, the reflectivity of the proposed unit cell conventional absorber is 6 dB lower than the conventional one at frequency of 2 GHz. Also the designed 16 tips pyramidal absorber is functional in the estimated frequency range from 1.5 GHz to 5 GHz.

REFERENCES
[1] Leland H. Hemming, Electromagnetic Anechoic Chamber A Fundamental Design and Specification Guide, IEEE Press & Willey Interscience, 2002. [2] S.M. Abbas, Mahesh Chandra, A. Verma, R. Chaterjee, TC Goel, Complex Permittivity and Microwave Absorption Propertiesof a composite dielectric absorber, Sciences Direct, vol 37, pp. 21482154, 2006. [3] Brian T. Dewit, Walter D. Burnside, Electromagnetic Scattering by Pyramidal and Wedge Absorber, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 36, no. 7, July 1988. [4] Yeon-Choon Chung, Byung-Wook Kim, Dong-Chul Park, Range of Validity of Transmission Line Approximati ons for Design of Electromagnetic Absorber, IEEE Trans. Mag., vol. 36, no. 4, July 2000. [5] R. L. Yevelson. N. V. Rotcheva, Design of a Single-Layer Absorptive Material with a Dispersing Absorption Element, Radio Eng. Electron. Phys., vol. 19, no. 8, pp. 117120, 1974. [6] Yatsutaka Shimizu and Kunihiro Suetake, MinimumThickness Design of Broad-band Absorbing Wall, Electronics and communications in Japan, vol. 52-B, no. 4, pp. 9097, 1969. [7] F. Maffioli, Constrained Variable Metric Optimization of Layered Electromagnetic Absorbers, Alta Frequenza, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 154164, 1970. [8] S. Yu. Kovenskii and A. V. Tikhonravov, Synthesis of Absorbing Layered Media, USSR Computational Mathematics and Physics, vol. 28, no.6, pp. 887900, 1988. [9] Roger F. Harrington, Time-Harmonic Electromagnetic Fields, IEEE Press & Willey Interscience, 2001. [10] B.-K. Chung, H.-T. Chuah Modeling of RF Absorber For Application in The Design of Anechoic Chamber, Electromagnetic Research, PIER, vol. 43, pp. 273285, 2003.

new unit cell pyramidal absorber is approximately 6 dB lower than the conventional one at frequency of 2 GHz. Now based on the proposed unit cell pyramidal absorber, a 16 tips per piece anisotropic pyramidal absorber is designed. The schematic of the absorber is shown in Fig. 8. The overall dimensions of the structure are listed in Table 2. Fig. 9 also shows the reflectivity of the final design. It can be found from this figure that the desined absorber has a good performance over microwave frequency band. The reflectivity of the absorber is about -25 dB at 2 GHz frequency that is 5 dB lower than the unit cell anisotropic pyramidal absorber.

TABLE 2 DESIGN SIZE OF THE PROPOSED 16 TIPS PYRAMIDAL ABSORBER

Parameter Value (mm)

h1 20

h2 210

a 109

b 54

[11] Hiroki Anzai, Makoto Saikawa, Yoshiyuki Naito, Tetsuya Mizumoto, The Equivalent Representation of Pyramidal Absorbers at its Application to The Analysis of Electromagnetic Wave Absorbers Characteristic, IEEE Press, 2005. [12] H. Nornikman, P.J. Soh, A. A. H Azremi, Potential Types of Biomaterial Absorber for Microwave Signal Absorption, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, IXCRI UMS 2008, June 2008. [13] TDK RF Solution Inc, Absorber for Microwave and Millimeter Wave Test Chamber, 2008. [14] TDK RF Solution Inc, EMC Component Radio Wave Absorber and Selection Guideline of Electromagnetic Absorbers, 001-03 / 20070302 / e9e_bdj_003, 2007. [15] M. I. Imran, M. Z. A Abd. Aziz, A.S. Jafar, A. Hashim, A. A Azremi, P.J. Soh, On the Design, Fabrication and Measurement of Microwave Absorbers, Proceeding of MUCET UniMAP, 2008. M. zarei was born in Aligodarz, Iran in 1980. He is currently working toward M.SC. degree in electrical engineering at Shahed University, Tehran, Iran. His current research interests include wideband and multi-band printed antennas, MIMO antennas and wave absorbers. A. R. Mallahzadeh received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran, in 1999 and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, in 2001, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, in 2006. He is a member of academic staff, Faculty of Engineering, Shahed University, Tehran. He has participated in many projects relative to antenna design, which resulted in fabricating different types of antennas for various companies. Also, he is interested in numerical modeling and microwaves.