Achieving a multi-band metamaterial perfect absorber via a hexagonal ring dielectric resonator

A multi-band absorber composed of high-permittivity hexagonal ring dielectric resonators and a metallic ground plate is designed in the microwave band. Near-unity absorptions around 9.785 GHz, 11.525 GHz, and 12.37 GHz are observed for this metamaterial absorber. The dielectric hexagonal ring resonator is made of microwave ceramics with high permittivity and low loss. The mechanism for the near-unity absorption is investigated via the dielectric resonator theory. It is found that the absorption results from electric and magnetic resonances where enhanced electromagnetic fields are excited inside the dielectric resonator. In addition, the resonance modes of the hexagonal resonator are similar to those of standard rectangle resonators and can be used for analyzing hexagonal absorbers. Our work provides a new research method as well as a solid foundation for designing and analyzing dielectric metamaterial absorbers with complex shapes.

Multi-Band Metamaterial Antenna for Terahertz Applications

A multi-band metamaterial antenna is proposed to operate at the terahertz(THz)band for medical applications.The proposed structure is designed on a polyimide as a support layer,and its radiating elements are made of graphene.Initially,the design is started with a conventional shape showing a single operating frequency at 1.1 THz.To achieve a multi-band operating frequency,the conventional shape was replaced with the proposed metamaterial as a radiating patch that has properties not exist in nature.The multi-band frequencies are obtained without compromising the overall size of the design.The overall size is 600×600×25μm^(3).The operating frequencies are 0.36,0.49,0.69,0.87,and 1.04 THz.A full ground plane is used to behave as isolation between the design and the human body model.The proposed design is investigated on free space and on the human body model,showing excellent performance in both cases.The achieved gains for the following frequencies 0.36,0.49,0.69,0.87,and 1.04 THz are 4.81,6.5,8.41,6.02,and 7.96 dB,respectively,while the efficiencies are 83.91%,96.28%,90.80%,91.71%,and 92.99%,respectively.The conventional design was modified to have a partial ground to show the benefit of using the full ground.The design is loaded on the human body model and its performance is affected.The efficiency and gain are 6.61 dB and 95.58.7%for the case of no human body model,and 4.26 dB and 40.30%for the case of using a human body model.Hence,the proposed metamaterial antenna will be useful for future medical applications in the THz band.

Multi-band microwave metamaterial absorber based on coplanar Jerusalem crosses

The influence of the gap on the absorption performance of the conventional split ring resonator(SRR) absorber is investigated at microwave frequencies. Our simulated results reveal that the geometry of the square SRR can be equivalent to a Jerusalem cross(JC) resonator and its corresponding metamaterial absorber(MA) is changed to a JC absorber. The JC MA exhibits an experimental absorption peak of 99.1% at 8.72 GHz, which shows an excellent agreement with our simulated results. By simply assembling several JCs with slightly different geometric parameters next to each other into a unit cell, a perfect multi-band absorption can be effectively obtained. The experimental results show that the MA has four distinct and strong absorption peaks at 8.32 GHz, 9.8 GHz, 11.52 GHz and 13.24 GHz. Finally, the multi-reflection interference theory is introduced to interpret the absorption mechanism.

Inverse design of mechanical metamaterial achieving a prescribedconstitutive curve

Besides exhibiting excellent capabilities such as energy absorption,phase-transforming metamaterials offer a vast design space for achieving nonlinear constitutive relations.This is facilitated by switching between different patterns under deformation.However,the related inverse design problem is quite challenging,due to the lack of appropriate mathematical formulation and the convergence issue in the post-buckling analysis of intermediate designs.In this work,periodic unit cells are explicitly described by the moving morphable voids method and effectively analyzed by eliminating the degrees of freedom in void regions.Furthermore,by exploring the Pareto frontiers between error and cost,an inverse design formulation is proposed for unit cells.This formulation aims to achieve a prescribed constitutive curve and is validated through numerical examples and experimental results.The design approach presented here can be extended to the inverse design of other types of mechanical metamaterials with prescribed nonlinear effective properties.

Gelatin-Based Metamaterial Hydrogel Films with High Conformality for Ultra-Soft Tissue Monitoring

Implantable hydrogel-based bioelectronics(IHB)can precisely monitor human health and diagnose diseases.However,achieving biodegradability,biocompatibility,and high conformality with soft tissues poses significant challenges for IHB.Gelatin is the most suitable candidate for IHB since it is a collagen hydrolysate and a substantial part of the extracellular matrix found naturally in most tissues.This study used 3D printing ultrafine fiber networks with metamaterial design to embed into ultra-low elastic modulus hydrogel to create a novel gelatin-based conductive film(GCF)with mechanical programmability.The regulation of GCF nearly covers soft tissue mechanics,an elastic modulus from 20 to 420 kPa,and a Poisson’s ratio from-0.25 to 0.52.The negative Poisson’s ratio promotes conformality with soft tissues to improve the efficiency of biological interfaces.The GCF can monitor heartbeat signals and respiratory rate by determining cardiac deformation due to its high conformability.Notably,the gelatin characteristics of the biodegradable GCF enable the sensor to monitor and support tissue restoration.The GCF metamaterial design offers a unique idea for bioelectronics to develop implantable sensors that integrate monitoring and tissue repair and a customized method for endowing implanted sensors to be highly conformal with soft tissues.

Ultra-wide band gap and wave attenuation mechanism of a novel star-shaped chiral metamaterial

A novel hollow star-shaped chiral metamaterial(SCM)is proposed by incorporating chiral structural properties into the standard hollow star-shaped metamaterial,exhibiting a wide band gap over 1500 Hz.To broaden the band gap,solid single-phase and two-phase SCMs are designed and simulated,which produce two ultra-wide band gaps(approximately 5116 Hz and 6027 Hz,respectively).The main reason for the formation of the ultra-wide band gap is that the rotational vibration of the concave star of two novel SCMs drains the energy of an elastic wave.The impacts of the concave angle of a single-phase SCM and the resonator radius of a two-phase SCM on the band gaps are studied.Decreasing the concave angle leads to an increase in the width of the widest band gap,and the width of the widest band gap increases as the resonator radius of the two-phase SCM increases.Additionally,the study on elastic wave propagation characteristics involves analyzing frequency dispersion surfaces,wave propagation directions,group velocities,and phase velocities.Ultimately,the analysis focuses on the transmission properties of finite periodic structures.The solid single-phase SCM achieves a maximum vibration attenuation over 800,while the width of the band gap is smaller than that of the two-phase SCM.Both metamaterials exhibit high vibration attenuation capabilities,which can be used in wideband vibration reduction to satisfy the requirement of ultra-wide frequencies.

Mechanical and damping performances of TPMS lattice metamaterials fabricated by laser powder bed fusion

Lattice metamaterials based on three-period minimum surface(TPMS)are an effective means to achieve lightweight and high-strength materials which are widely used in various fields such as aerospace and ships.However,its vibration and noise reduction,and damping properties have not been fully studied.Therefore,in this study,the TPMS structures with parameterization were designed by the method of surface migration,and the TPMS structures with high forming quality was manufactured by laser powder bed fusion(LPBF).The mechanical properties and energy absorption characteristics of the beam and TPMS structures were studied and compared by quasi-static compression.The modal shapes of the beam lattice structures and TPMS structures were obtained by the free modal analysis,and the damping properties of two structures were obtained by modal tests.For the two structures after heat treatment with the same porosity of 70%,the yield strength of the beam lattice structure reaches 40.76 MPa,elastic modulus is 20.38 GPa,the energy absorption value is 32.23 MJ·m^(-3),the damping ratio is 0.52%.The yield strength,elastic modulus,energy absorption value,and damping ratio of the TPMS structure are 50.74 MPa,25.37 GPa,47.34 MJ·m^(-3),and 0.99%,respectively.The results show that TPMS structures exhibit more excellent mechanical properties and energy absorption,better damping performance,and obvious advantages in structural load and vibration and noise reduction compared with the beam lattice structures under the same porosity.

Mass-spring model for elastic wave propagation in multilayered van der Waals metamaterials

Multilayered van der Waals(vdW)materials have attracted increasing interest because of the manipulability of their superior optical,electrical,thermal,and mechanical properties.A mass-spring model(MSM)for elastic wave propagation in multilayered vdW metamaterials is reported in this paper.Molecular dynamics(MD)simulations are adopted to simulate the propagation of elastic waves in multilayered vdW metamaterials.The results show that the graphene/MoS_(2)metamaterials have an elastic wave bandgap in the terahertz range.The MSM for the multilayered vdW metamaterials is proposed,and the numerical simulation results show that this model can well describe the dispersion and transmission characteristics of the multilayered vdW metamaterials.The MSM can predict elastic wave transmission characteristics in multilayered vdW metamaterials stacked with different two-dimensional(2D)materials.The results presented in this paper offer theoretical help for the vibration reduction of multilayered vdW semiconductors.

Wireless Power Supply Based on MNG-MNZ Metamaterial for Cardiac Pacemakers

To solve the low power transfer efficiency and magnetic field leakage problems of cardiac pacemaker wireless powering, we proposed a wireless power supply system suitable for implanted cardiac pacemaker based on mu-negative(MNG) and mu-nearzero(MNZ) metamaterials. First, a hybrid metamaterial consisted of central MNG unit for magnetic field concentration and surrounding MNZ units for magnetic leakage shielding was established by theoretical calculation. Afterwards, the magnetic field distribution of wireless power supply system with MNG-MNZ metamaterial slab was acquired via finite element simulation and verified to be better than the distribution with conventional MNG slab deployed. Finally, an experimental platform of wireless power supply system was established with which power transfer experiment and system temperature rise experiment were conducted.Simulation and experimental results showed that the power transfer efficiency was improved from 44.44%,19.42%, 8.63% and 6.19% to 55.77%, 62.39%, 20.81%and 14.52% at 9.6 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm and 50 mm,respectively. The maximum SAR acquired by SAR simulation under human body environment was-7.14 dbm and maximum reduction of the magnetic field strength around the receiving coil was 2.82 A/m. The maximum temperature rise during 30min charging test was 3.85℃,and the safety requirements of human bodies were met.

Prediction of Bandwidth of Metamaterial Antenna Using Pearson Kernel-Based Techniques

The use of metamaterial enhances the performance of a specific class of antennas known as metamaterial antennas.The radiation cost and quality factor of the antenna are influenced by the size of the antenna.Metamaterial antennas allow for the circumvention of the bandwidth restriction for small antennas.Antenna parameters have recently been predicted using machine learning algorithms in existing literature.Machine learning can take the place of the manual process of experimenting to find the ideal simulated antenna parameters.The accuracy of the prediction will be primarily dependent on the model that is used.In this paper,a novel method for forecasting the bandwidth of the metamaterial antenna is proposed,based on using the Pearson Kernel as a standard kernel.Along with these new approaches,this paper suggests a unique hypersphere-based normalization to normalize the values of the dataset attributes and a dimensionality reduction method based on the Pearson kernel to reduce the dimension.A novel algorithm for optimizing the parameters of Convolutional Neural Network(CNN)based on improved Bat Algorithm-based Optimization with Pearson Mutation(BAO-PM)is also presented in this work.The prediction results of the proposed work are better when compared to the existing models in the literature.

Nonreciprocal thermal metamaterials:Methods and applications

Nonreciprocity of thermal metamaterials has significant application prospects in isolation protection,unidirectional transmission,and energy harvesting.However,due to the inherent isotropic diffusion law of heat flow,it is extremely difficult to achieve nonreciprocity of heat transfer.This review presents the recent developments in thermal nonreciprocity and explores the fundamental theories,which underpin the design of nonreciprocal thermal metamaterials,i.e.,the Onsager reciprocity theorem.Next,three methods for achieving nonreciprocal metamaterials in the thermal field are elucidated,namely,nonlinearity,spatiotemporal modulation,and angular momentum bias,and the applications of nonreciprocal thermal metamaterials are outlined.We also discuss nonreciprocal thermal radiation.Moreover,the potential applications of nonreciprocity to other Laplacian physical fields are discussed.Finally,the prospects for advancing nonreciprocal thermal metamaterials are highlighted,including developments in device design and manufacturing techniques and machine learning-assisted material design.

Low-frequency bandgap and vibration suppression mechanism of a novel square hierarchical honeycomb metamaterial

The suppression of low-frequency vibration and noise has always been an important issue in a wide range of engineering applications.To address this concern,a novel square hierarchical honeycomb metamaterial capable of reducing low-frequency noise has been developed.By combining Bloch’s theorem with the finite element method,the band structure is calculated.Numerical results indicate that this metamaterial can produce multiple low-frequency bandgaps within 500 Hz,with a bandgap ratio exceeding 50%.The first bandgap spans from 169.57 Hz to 216.42 Hz.To reveal the formation mechanism of the bandgap,a vibrational mode analysis is performed.Numerical analysis demonstrates that the bandgap is attributed to the suppression of elastic wave propagation by the vibrations of the structure’s two protruding corners and overall expansion vibrations.Additionally,detailed parametric analyses are conducted to investigate the effect ofθ,i.e.,the angle between the protruding corner of the structure and the horizontal direction,on the band structures and the total effective bandgap width.It is found that reducingθis conducive to obtaining lower frequency bandgaps.The propagation characteristics of elastic waves in the structure are explored by the group velocity,phase velocity,and wave propagation direction.Finally,the transmission characteristics of a finite periodic structure are investigated experimentally.The results indicate significant acceleration amplitude attenuation within the bandgap range,confirming the structure’s excellent low-frequency vibration suppression capability.

Terahertz toroidal dipole metamaterial sensors for detection of aflatoxin B1

Terahertz metamaterial biosensors have attracted significant attention in the biological field due to their advantages of label-free,real-time and in situ detection.In this paper,a highly sensitive metamaterial sensor with semi-ring mirror symmetry based on toroidal dipole resonance is designed for a new metamaterial biosensor.It is shown that a refractive index sensitivity of 337.5 GHz per refractive index unit can be achieved under an analyte of saturated thickness near a 1.33 THz transmission dip.For biosensor samples where aflatoxin B1 is dropped on the metamaterial surface in our experiment,dip amplitudes of transmission varying from 0.1904 to 0.203 and 0.2093 are observed as aflatoxin B1 concentrations are altered from 0 to 0.001μg·ml-1 and to 0.01μg·ml-1,respectively.Furthermore,when aflatoxin B1 concentrations are 0.1μg·ml-1,1μg·ml-1,10μg·ml-1 and 100μg·ml-1,dip amplitudes of 0.2179,0.226,0.2384 and 0.2527 and dip redshifts of 10.1 GHz,20.1 GHz,27.7 GHz and 37.6 GHz are respectively observed.These results illustrate high-sensitivity,label-free detection of aflatoxin B1,enriching the applications of sensors in the terahertz domain.

General three-dimensional thermal illusion metamaterials

Thermal illusion aims to create fake thermal signals or hide the thermal target from the background thermal field to mislead infrared observers,and illusion thermotics was proposed to regulate heat flux with artificially structured metamaterials for thermal illusion.Most theoretical and experimental works on illusion thermotics focus on two-dimensional materials,while heat transfer in real three-dimensional(3D)objects remains elusive,so the general 3D illusion thermotics is urgently demanded.In this study,we propose a general method to design 3D thermal illusion metamaterials with varying illusions at different sizes and positions.To validate the generality of the 3D method for thermal illusion metamaterials,we realize thermal functionalities of thermal shifting,splitting,trapping,amplifying and compressing.In addition,we propose a special way to simplify the design method under the condition that the size of illusion target is equal to the size of original heat source.The 3D thermal illusion metamaterial paves a general way for illusion thermotics and triggers the exploration of illusion metamaterials for more functionalities and applications.

A viscoelastic metamaterial beam for integrated vibration isolation and energy harvesting

Locally resonant metamaterials have low-frequency band gaps and the capability of converging vibratory energy in the band gaps at resonant cells.It has been demonstrated by several researchers that the dissipatioin of vibratory energy within the band gap can be improved by using viscoelastic materials.This paper designs an integrated viscoelastic metamaterial for energy harvesting and vibration isolation.The viscoelastic metamaterial is achieved by a viscoelastic beam periodically arrayed with spatial ball-pendulum nonlinear energy harvesters.The nonlinear resonator with an energy harvesting function is achieved by placing a free-rolling magnetic ball in a spherical cavity with an additional induction coil.The dynamic equations of viscoelastic metamaterials under transverse excitation are established,and the energy harvesting and vibration isolation characteristics within the dispersion relation of viscoelastic metamaterials are analyzed.The results show that the vibrations of the main body of the viscoelastic metamaterial beam are significantly suppressed in the frequency range of the local resonance band gap.At the same time,the elastic waves are limited in the nonlinear resonator with an energy harvesting function,which improves the energy output.Finally,an experimental platform of viscoelastic metamaterial vibration is established for validation purposes.

Bandgap adjustment of a sandwich-like acoustic metamaterial plate with a frequency-displacement feedback control method

Several types of acoustic metamaterials composed of resonant units have been developed to achieve low-frequency bandgaps.In most of these structures,bandgaps are determined by their geometric configurations and material properties.This paper presents a frequency-displacement feedback control method for vibration suppression in a sandwich-like acoustic metamaterial plate.The band structure is theoretically derived using the Hamilton principle and validated by comparing the theoretical calculation results with the finite element simulation results.In this method,the feedback voltage is related to the displacement of a resonator and the excitation frequency.By applying a feedback voltage on the piezoelectric fiber-reinforced composite(PFRC)layers attached to a cantilever-mass resonator,the natural frequency of the resonator can be adjusted.It ensures that the bandgap moves in a frequency-dependent manner to keep the excitation frequency within the bandgap.Based on this frequency-displacement feedback control strategy,the bandgap of the metamaterial plate can be effectively adjusted,and the vibration of the metamaterial plate can be significantly suppressed.

Suppression of low-frequency ultrasound broadband vibration using star-shaped single-phase metamaterials

In order to suppress the low-frequency ultrasound vibration in the broadband range of 20 k Hz—100 k Hz,this paper proposes and discusses an acoustic metamaterial with low-frequency ultrasound vibration attenuation properties,which is configured by hybrid arc and sharp-angle convergent star-shaped lattices.The effect of the dispersion relation and the bandgap characteristic for the scatterers in star-shaped are simulated and analyzed.The target bandgap width is extended by optimizing the geometry parameters of arc and sharp-angle convergent lattices.The proposed metamaterial configured by optimized hybrid lattices exhibits remarkable broad bandgap characteristics by bandgap complementarity,and the simulation results verify a 99%vibration attenuation amplitude can be obtained in the frequency of20 k Hz—100 k Hz.After the fabrication of the proposed hybrid configurational star-shaped metamaterial by 3D printing technique,the transmission loss experiments are performed,and the experimental results indicate that the fabricated metamaterial has the characteristics of broadband vibration attenuation and an amplitude greater than 85%attenuation for the target frequency.These results demonstrate that the hybrid configurational star-shaped metamaterials can effectively widen the bandgap and realize high efficiency attenuation,which has capability for the vibration attenuation in the application of highprecise equipment.

Local resonance metamaterial-based integrated design for suppressing longitudinal and transverse waves in fluid-conveying pipes

To solve the problem of low broadband multi-directional vibration control of fluid-conveying pipes,a novel metamaterial periodic structure with multi-directional wide bandgaps is proposed.First,an integrated design method is proposed for the longitudinal and transverse wave control of fluid-conveying pipes,and a novel periodic structure unit model is constructed for vibration reduction.Based on the bandgap vibration reduction mechanism of the acoustic metamaterial periodic structure,the material parameters,structural parameters,and the arrangement interval of the periodic structure unit are optimized.The finite element method(FEM)is used to predict the vibration transmission characteristics of the fluid-conveying pipe installed with the vibration reduction periodic structure.Then,the wave/spectrum element method(WSEM)and experimental test are used to verify the calculated results above.Lastly,the vibration attenuation characteristics of the structure under different conditions,such as rubber material parameters,mass ring material,and fluid-structure coupling effect,are analyzed.The results show that the structure can produce a complete bandgap of 46 Hz-75 Hz in the low-frequency band below 100 Hz,which can effectively suppress the low broadband vibration of the fluidconveying pipe.In addition,a high damping rubber material is used in the design of the periodic structure unit,which realizes the effective suppression of each formant peak of the pipe,and improves the vibration reduction effect of the fluid-conveying pipe.Meanwhile,the structure has the effect of suppressing both bending vibration and longitudinal vibration,and effectively inhibits the transmission of transverse waves and longitudinal waves in the pipe.The research results provide a reference for the application of acoustic metamaterials in the multi-directional vibration control of fluid-conveying pipes.

Reconfigurable mechanism-based metamaterials for ternary-coded elastic wave polarizers and programmable refraction control

Elastic metamaterials with unusual elastic properties offer unprecedented ways to modulate the polarization and propagation of elastic waves.However,most of them rely on the resonant structural components,and thus are frequency-dependent and unchangeable.Here,we present a reconfigurable 2D mechanism-based metamaterial which possesses transformable and frequency-independent elastic properties.Based on the proposed mechanism-based metamaterial,interesting functionalities,such as ternarycoded elastic wave polarizer and programmable refraction,are demonstrated.Particularly,unique ternary-coded polarizers,with 1-trit polarization filtering and 2-trit polarization separating of longitudinal and transverse waves,are first achieved.Then,the strong anisotropy of the proposed metamaterial is harnessed to realize positive-negative bi-refraction,only-positive refraction,and only-negative refraction.Finally,the wave functions with detailed microstructures are numerically verified.

Modeling and analysis of gradient metamaterials for broad fusion bandgaps

A gradient metamaterial with varying-stiffness local resonators is proposed to open the multiple bandgaps and further form a broad fusion bandgap.First,three local resonators with linearly increasing stiffness are periodically attached to the spring-mass chain to construct the gradient metamaterial.The dispersion relation is then derived based on Bloch's theorem to reveal the fusion bandgap theoretically.The dynamic characteristic of the finite spring-mass chain is investigated to validate the fusion of multiple bandgaps.Finally,the effects of the design parameters on multiple bandgaps are discussed.The results show that the metamaterial with a non-uniform stiffness gradient pattern is capable of opening a broad fusion bandgap and effectively attenuating the longitudinal waves within a broad frequency region.