Low profile and light weight are very important for practical applications of a spoof surface plasmon polariton(SSPP)coupler, especially at low frequencies. In this paper, we propose and design an ultra-thin, light-...Low profile and light weight are very important for practical applications of a spoof surface plasmon polariton(SSPP)coupler, especially at low frequencies. In this paper, we propose and design an ultra-thin, light-weight SSPP coupler based on broadside coupled split ring resonators(BC-SRRs). The size of BC-SRR can be far less than λ/100 and can extremely well control the reflective phases within a subwavelength thickness. Due to the broadside capacitive coupling, the electrical size of BC-SRR is dramatically reduced to guarantee the ultra-thin thickness of the SSPP coupler. The weight of the SSPP coupler is reduced by a low occupation ratio of BC-SRR in the unit cell volume. As an example, a C-band SSPP coupler composed of phase gradient BC-SRRs is designed, fabricated, and measured. Due to the ultra-small size and low occupation ratio of BC-SRRs, the thickness of the coupler is λ/12 and the surface density is only 0.98 kg/m^2. Both simulation and experiment results verify that the coupler can achieve high-efficiency SPP coupling at 5.27 GHz under normal incidence.展开更多
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.61331005,61471388,and 61501503)
文摘Low profile and light weight are very important for practical applications of a spoof surface plasmon polariton(SSPP)coupler, especially at low frequencies. In this paper, we propose and design an ultra-thin, light-weight SSPP coupler based on broadside coupled split ring resonators(BC-SRRs). The size of BC-SRR can be far less than λ/100 and can extremely well control the reflective phases within a subwavelength thickness. Due to the broadside capacitive coupling, the electrical size of BC-SRR is dramatically reduced to guarantee the ultra-thin thickness of the SSPP coupler. The weight of the SSPP coupler is reduced by a low occupation ratio of BC-SRR in the unit cell volume. As an example, a C-band SSPP coupler composed of phase gradient BC-SRRs is designed, fabricated, and measured. Due to the ultra-small size and low occupation ratio of BC-SRRs, the thickness of the coupler is λ/12 and the surface density is only 0.98 kg/m^2. Both simulation and experiment results verify that the coupler can achieve high-efficiency SPP coupling at 5.27 GHz under normal incidence.