Graphene-Based Optically Transparent Metasurface Capable of Dual-Polarized Modulation for Electromagnetic Stealth

Abstract

Microwave stealth technology with optical transparency is of great significance for solar-powered aircrafts (e.g., satellites or unmanned aerial vehicles) in increasingly complex electromagnetic environments. By coating them with optically transparent absorbing materials or devices, these large-sized solar panels could avoid detection by radar while maintaining highly efficient collection of solar energy. However, conventional microwave-absorbing materials/devices for solar panels suffer from bulky volume and fixed stealth performance that significantly hinders their practicality or multifunctionality. Particularly, dynamic modulation of microwave absorption for dual polarization remains a challenge. In this paper, we propose the design, fabrication, and characterization of an optically transparent and dynamically tunable microwave-absorbing metasurface that enables dual modulations (amplitude and frequency) independently for two orthogonal linearly polarized excitations. The tunability of the proposed metasurface is guaranteed by an elaborately designed anisotropic meta-atom composed of a patterned graphene structure whose electromagnetic responses for different polarizations can be dynamically and independently controlled via bias voltages. The dual tunability in such a graphene-based absorbing metasurface is experimentally measured, which agrees well with those numerical results. We further build an equivalent lumped circuit model to analyze the physical relation between the tunable sheet resistance of graphene and the polarization-independent modulations of the metasurface. Taking into account the advantages of optical transparency and flexibility, the proposed microwave-absorbing metasurface significantly enhances the multitasking stealth performance in complex scenarios and has the potential for advanced solar energy devices.