Open Access
Experimental demonstration of a millimeter-wave metallic ENZ lens based on the energy squeezing principle
(IEEE, 2015) Torres Landívar, Víctor; Orazbayev, Bakhtiyar; Pacheco-Peña, Víctor; Teniente Vallinas, Jorge; Beruete Díaz, Miguel; Navarro Cía, Miguel; Sorolla Ayza, Mario; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
The performance of an epsilon-near zero (ENZ) plano-concave lens is experimentally demonstrated and verified at the D-band of the millimeter-waves. The lens is comprised of an array of narrow metallic waveguides near cut-off frequency, which effectively behaves as an epsilon-near-zero medium at 144 GHz. A good matching with free space is achieved by exploiting the phenomenon of energy squeezing and a clear focus with a transmission enhancement of 15.9 dB is measured. The lens shows good radiation properties with a directivity of 17.6 dBi and low cross-polar components of -34 dB. All results are supported by numerical simulations.
Open Access
A slow light fishnet-like absorber in the millimeter-wave range
(EMW Publishing, 2011) Navarro Cía, Miguel; Torres Landívar, Víctor; Beruete Díaz, Miguel; Sorolla Ayza, Mario; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa
A novel route to achieve a narrowband free-space electromagnetic absorber in any range of the spectrum based on stacked subwavelength hole arrays is proposed. The absorption is obtained by means of a slow light mode inside a fishnet-like engineered structure and exploiting the unavoidable misalignments and bucklings of the free-standing stack. An incoming pulse becomes permanently trapped in the structure due to the near zero group velocity which causes an enhancement of the radiation-structure interaction that leads to a huge increment of losses arising from the finite conductivity of the metal as well as arrangement tolerances. This approach is studied not only by simulation but also experimentally under normal incidence at millimeter wavelengths. Moreover, a basic grasp about the angular dependence of the structure is given by analyzing the 2D dispersion diagram. It shows that this scheme may also display high absorption under oblique incidence for s-polarization (or TE-polarization), whereas p-polarization (TM-polarization) would degrade its performance.
Open Access
Hedgehog subwavelength hole arrays: control over the THz enhanced transmission
(Institute of Physics Publishing, 2013) Navarro Cía, Miguel; Rodríguez Ulibarri, Pablo; Beruete Díaz, Miguel; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua: 055/01/11
By backing or sandwiching a holey metal layer with or between isotropic dielectric slabs, additional peaks of transmission within the long-wavelength regime arise as a result of the induced transverse magnetic (TM) or transverse electric (TE) grounded dielectric modes. A similar control of the complex surface wave modes, and thus of the extraordinary transmission (ET) peaks, is demonstrated here via anisotropic slabs in the form of a fakir's bed of nails. However, it is shown that those ET peaks formed from TE modes are suppressed because of the inherent dispersion characteristics of the free-standing grounded pins. This allows the red-shifting of the ET for the polarization parallel to the larger in-plane period of the hole array, but unlike the dielectric isotropic slab configuration, the orthogonal polarization remains inhibited.
Open Access
Accurate circuit modeling of fishnet structures for negative-index-medium applications
(IEEE, 2016) Torres Landívar, Víctor; Mesa, Francisco; Navarro Cía, Miguel; Rodríguez Berral, Raúl; Beruete Díaz, Miguel; Medina, Francisco; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa
Metallic plates with a two-dimensional (2D) periodic distribution of sub-wavelength apertures are known to exhibit extraordinary transmission of electromagnetic waves. Stacking two or more of such plates gives place to the so-called fishnet structures, which constitute a popular way of achieving an effective negative index medium at frequencies ranging from microwaves to optics. Unfortunately, a general wideband equivalent circuit has not yet been proposed to facilitate its understanding and design. This work presents this circuit model with closed-form expressions for the circuit elements, thus making it possible to obtain the electrical response for this class of structures in a very efficient way. This procedure is much faster than alternative numerical methods at the same time that it retains a high level of accuracy when compared with some other oversimplified models. The circuit model also provides a simple rationale as well as a good physical insight in order to explain the qualitative behavior of such structures, independently of the number of stacked layers.
Open Access
Lensing system and Fourier transformation using epsilon-near-zero metamaterials
(American Physical Society, 2012) Navarro Cía, Miguel; Beruete Díaz, Miguel; Sorolla Ayza, Mario; Engheta, Nader; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa
Metamaterials and metastructures with effective relative permittivity near zero exhibit unusual wave properties such as uniform phase distributions across such domains. Here we discuss the possibility of using ε-near-zero (ENZ) metamaterials for lensing and Fourier transforming. Owing to the possibility of having ENZ metamaterials in different wavelength regimes, the concepts shown here can be utilized at any frequency bands in which such materials can be constructed.
Open Access
Epsilon-near-zero metalenses operating in the visible
(Elsevier, 2016) Pacheco-Peña, Víctor; Navarro Cía, Miguel; Beruete Díaz, Miguel; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa
Several converging lenses working in the permittivity near to zero (ENZ) regime at optical frequencies are designed using an array of metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic waveguides. These plasmonic waveguides show a dispersive nature that enable to mimic an effective ENZ medium when using the fast wave transverse electric (TE1) mode near its cut-off wavelength. By arranging multiple plasmonic waveguides with the correct engineered dimensions, several metalenses, including graded index (GRIN) ones, and diffractive optical elements (i.e., zoned metalenses) are proposed. The metalenses are designed at l0 = 474.9nm (f = 631.67THz) with a focal length of 10.75l0. Numerical results demonstrate that the best performance is obtained for the case of the GRIN metalens in terms of the focal position, transversal resolution and thickness, reducing its volume up to ∼52.3% with respect to the smooth-profiled plano-concave metalens.