Recent Advances In Telecommunications, Informatics And Educational Technologies

Tunable Perfect Metamaterial Absorber Design Using the Golden

Ratio and Energy Harvesting Application

Emin Unal1,5, Furkan Dincer2,5, Erkan Tetik3,5, Muharrem Karaaslan1,5, Cumali Sabah4
1
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Mustafa Kemal University,
Iskenderun, Hatay, 31200, Turkey
2
Department of Computer Engineering, Mustafa Kemal University, Iskenderun, Hatay, 31200,
Turkey
3
Computer Science Research and Application Center, Usak University, Usak 64100, Turkey
4
Middle East Technical University - Northern Cyprus Campus, Department of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering, Kalkanli, Guzelyurt, TRNC, Mersin 10, Turkey
5
Metamaterials and Photonics Research Group, Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay 31200,
Turkey
eunal@mku.edu.tr http://www.mku.edu.tr/me.php?mid=eunal

Abstract: - We report the design, characterization and theoretical verification of a tunable perfect
metamaterial absorber (MA) based electromagnetic (EM) energy harvesting application. We have
used the golden ratio dimensions in the proposed structure which has simple configuration and easy
fabrication. We have examined the perfect absorption and electromagnetic energy collector
characteristic of proposed structure using numerical simulations. We show that the maximum
absorption rate is 99.9 % at 6.78 GHz, and MA structure can be used as an EM energy collector.

Key-Words: - Metamaterials, Harvesting, Tunable, Absorber, Golden Ratio, Perfect Absorption

1 Introduction harvesting. Many types of energy can be harvested

The presence of metamaterials (MTMs), which was
experimentally introduced in the 2000s [1, 2], has
rapidly expanded the boundaries of electromagnetic
(EM) researches in science and technology. The
reason for this is that MTMs are defined as artificial
EM structures having unusual EM properties not
available in nature such as negative permeability
and/or permittivity. Since MTMs had three
dimensional periodic architectures and negative
refraction, they have been used in many potential
applications some of which are sensing [3], sensor
[4-6], superlens [7], EM cloaking [8, 9], perfect
absorber [10-18] and so on [19-21]. In addition,
MTM absorbers (MAs) which have made significant
progress within the scope of MTM technologies
have crucial importance especially for military and
civilian applications. Recently, a new application
area of MTMs was demonstrated the feasibility of
using a split ring resonator (SRR) array to collect
EM energy. For the first time related to this area, it
was focused on a specific type of SRRs for EM
energy harvesting application [22]. It shows in this
study that MTMs are also compatible with other
functional applications including EM energy
with energy harvesting devices, for example, it is
known that the energies such as EM or acoustic can
be converted to alternating (AC) or direct (DC)
current signal using common converting techniques
[23]. The energy harvesting devices consist of
structural systems converts the energy from one
form to another. In this regard, MTMs can be
designed to convert different energy types because
of their structural properties. Thus, MTMs can
constitute a natural system for EM energy
harvesting. In another study [24], the concept of EM
energy harvesting in 3-D using MTM arrays is
presented which have collected energy by means of
a resistor placed across the gap of the resonator.
On the flexibility of the design of MTMs due to
their structure consisting of electrically small
unlimited arrays, their resonance frequency includes
coupling effects. If MTM harvesting system is
excited, EM energy from an incoming wave is
absorbed by the resonator and concentrated mostly
within its gap. By inserting a resistive load across
the gap of the resonator, energy stored within the
gap of the resonator at the resonance frequency can
be harvested. Therefore, these resonators are a

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 Recent Advances In Telecommunications, Informatics And Educational Technologies
strong candidate to absorb the EM energy which is
used in many applications such as communication
systems.
In this study, we present a design of tunable perfect
metamaterial absorber (MA) based EM energy
harvesting application. Proposed MA which is a
new structure presented in the literature have simple
configuration using of the golden ratio dimensions
with easy fabrication. We have examined the perfect
absorption and EM energy collector properties of
the proposed structure using numerical simulations.
We show that this MA structure can be used as an
energy collector by improving the total efficiency of
the EM energy harvesting system.
2 Design and Numerical Setup
The proposed MA structure which has the
dimensions of golden ratio is shown in Figure 1.
Top (resonator) and bottom layer (metal plate) being
placed parallel to each other are separated by the
polyimide-dielectric substrate. The golden ratio
design used in this work is very simple with easy
fabrication technique. Resonator is modeled as a
copper sheet with electrical conductivity of
5.8001x107 S/m and thickness of 0.035 mm. The
thickness, loss tangent, relative permittivity and
permeability of the polyimide-dielectric are 1.6,
0.027, 3.5 and 1, respectively. A single unit cell of
the proposed MA based harvester consists of a
resonator, metal plate and dielectric substrate with a
gap as shown in fig. 1(a). The resistor sheet is
placed across the gap of resonator whose resistance
value is critical and has a great effect on the total
efficiency of MA collector. The golden ratio which
is believed to have been given the dimensions of the
authority in terms of compliance in the nature is the
geometric and numerical relation. Dimensions of the
proposed structure which is determined according to
the rules of golden ratio, are a = 9, b = 9x1.618, c =
7x1.618 and d = 0.5 mm as shown in Fig. 1(b). It
can be seen that the boundary conditions are defined
as perfect magnetic conductor (PMC) (Ht = 0),
perfect electric conductor (PEC) (Et = 0) and open
(add space), respectively. In Fig. 1(c), the 3D
simulation setup of the proposed energy harvesting
MA structure is presented.
ISBN: 978-1-61804-262-0
Figure 1. 3D views of energy harvesting MA
structure (a). The dimensions of MA resonator (b)
and simulation setup with perfect electric boundary
conditions (c).
We have simulated the properties of proposed EM
energy collector using a full-wave electromagnetic
solver CST Microwave Studio (Computer
Simulation Technology GmbH, Darmstadt,
Germany) based on FIT (Finite Integration
Technique). The numerical studies performed for
the MA harvester structure shows that the resistor
connected across the gap of structure not only
harvests the energy stored within the gap, but it also
maximizes the absorbed energy from the incoming
wave. The idea of maximizing the absorbed energy
comes from minimizing both the reflection and
transmission. If the geometry of the MA structure is
examined, there will be no transmission for the
proposed structure because of the metallic plate
located at its back side. The frequency
characteristics of absorption can be calculated
by the equation . In order
to maximize absorption of structure both the
reflection and transmission
should be minimized at the resonance
frequency. Since it is blocked off by the metallic
plate located at its back side, there will not be
transmission for the presented model. Therefore, the
reflection of structure needs to be investigated
which is directly related with parameter. As a
result, The optimization and simulation results of
the MA harvester structure have been analyzed
according to the absorption equation
where since .
3 Results and Discussion
After designing of the proposed tunable MA
structure, numerical calculations are realized to
obtain and show absorption properties of the model.
Simulation studies of the MA are carried out at 5-8
GHz frequency range. The absorption properties are
calculated for the resistor values connected across
the gap of resonator at the range 1000 - 5000 ohm in
500 ohm increments. For each resistance value, the
absorption values of the proposed MA structure is
achieved as 87.4%, 96.2%, 99.1%, 99.9%, 98.7%,
96.9%, 94.1%, 91.4% and 90.3% at the frequencies
of 6.76 GHz, 6.79 GHz, 6.78 GHz, 6.78 GHz, 6.77.
GHz, 6.78 GHz, 6.78 GHz, 6.79 GHz and 6.78
GHz, respectively. Fig. 2 shows that maximum
absorption is observed at 2500 ohm resistor value.
Results also show that the proposed structure can be
used for perfect absorption applications and the
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 Recent Advances In Telecommunications, Informatics And Educational Technologies
proposed model is a very good candidate for perfect
tunable MAs as shown in Fig. 2.
Figure 2. Simulated absorption range 1000 - 5000
ohm in 500 ohm increments connected across the
gap of resonator of the proposed MA harvester
structure.
The absorption graphic shows that the proposed
model can be used as an energy harvesting
metamaterial with 2500 ohm resistor due to perfect
absorption value. The 99.9% absorption of MA
structure has provided very important contribution
to the total efficiency of the harvester system. It is
evident that the golden ratio structure is very
appropriate and suitable for EM energy harvesting.
The absorption efficiency in the electromagnetic
systems provides information on the ability of
energy collector properties of structures. It
determines the extent of energy stored within the
gap of the resonator as well. In this study, it has
been focused on the electromagnetic wave to AC
conversion efficiency for perfect MA structure.
Since we examined the ability of the energy
collector of the proposed MA for energy harvesting,
we have obtained the graphic of the lumped element
power value depending on the frequency for
different resistor values as shown in Fig. 3. The
results imply that there is good agreement between
calculated results and the lumped element power
value results. The lumped element power of MA has
its maximum peak values being 99.9% around 6.78
GHz for all resistor values. In this regard, proposed
structure is realized high efficiency and can be used
as EM energy harvesting system by means of a
resistor placed across the gap of the resonator.
Figure 3. Simulated lumped element power value
range 1000 - 5000 ohm in 500 ohm increments
ISBN: 978-1-61804-262-0
connected across the gap of resonator for the
proposed MA harvester structure.
In order to better understand the physical
mechanism of the energy harvesting operation
principle of the structure at the resonance, the
electric field distribution is investigated at the
resonant frequency of 6.78 GHz. Fig. 4 shows the
induced electric field distribution in the unit
structure with golden ratio dimensions at the
resonance frequency of 6.78 GHz in the right side.
Fig. 4 also shows the induced electric field
distribution in the unit structure at 5.00 GHz (non-
resonance) in the left side. It can be seen that while
the non-resonance condition (5.00 GHz) provides
approximately uniform electric field (except the
gap), the resonance (6.78 GHz) provides higher
concentration of electric field around gap and top
and bottom sides. The electric field corresponding to
the resonance is not uniformly distributed at all. The
electric field distributions in both figures are
concentrated mostly around the gap. At the
resonance, high localization of the electric field
around gaps is observed. Note that, this mode
provides better absorption with respect to any other
frequencies (99.9%). The electric field distribution
for the resonance on the top and bottom sides as
well as the gap is very high, this means that
resonator absorbs the electromagnetic energy from
an incoming wave at resonance. So we can conclude
that the structure behaves as an electrical dipole for
the applied polarization as shown in Fig. 4. Thereby,
the resonator has collected the EM energy by means
of created electric field in the resistor placed across
the gap. Hence, EM energy from an incoming wave
has been collected by means of a resistor placed
across the gap of the resonator. Proposed MA model
will be able to convert EM energy to AC because of
resistor and resonator structure. When an array of
unit cell is used, higher collection efficiency and a
wider bandwidth can be obtained with respect to a
single unit cell. As a result, this MA based energy
harvester concept can be used on energy harvesting
systems, Wi-Fi devices, space solar power systems,
sensor applications and so on.
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 Recent Advances In Telecommunications, Informatics And Educational Technologies
Figure 4. Electric field distribution at the resonant
frequency of 5.00 GHz (on the left) and electric
field distribution at the resonant frequency of 6.78
GHz (on the right.
4 Conclusion
We have designed and simulated tunable perfect
MA based EM energy harvesting structure. We have
discussed and evaluated the obtained results and
graphics. Designed MA is a new structure having
simple configuration and easy fabrication with the
golden ratio dimensions. We have evaluated the
perfect absorption and EM energy collector
properties of proposed structure using numerical
simulations. The absorption properties of the
proposed structure are calculated for the resistor
values connected across the gap of resonator range
1000 - 5000 ohm in 500 ohm increments. The
resistance value is very important to harvest
maximum power. So as to maximize the power
transferred to the resistor connected to the gap, its
resistance must be equal in value to the equivalent
Thevenin resistance seen at the gap of the resonator.
Maximum absorption of 99.9% is obtained at 6.78
GHz using 2500 ohm resistor connected across the
gap of resonator. The results show that proposed
structure at resonans gives better absorption of
99.9% which has provided very important
contribution to the total efficiency of the EM energy
harvesting system. We have also examined the
electric field distribution of the MA structure at 6.78
GHz (resonant frequency) and 5 GHz (non-
resonant frequency) . The electric field distribution
on the top and bottom sides as well as the gap is
very high at resonance, this means that the structure
behaves as an electrical dipole for the applied
polarization as shown in Fig. 4. Therefore, the
proposed structure can be used for perfect
absorption applications and are proved that the
proposed model is a very good candidate for perfect
tunable MAs.
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