Frequency controlled beam scanning characteristic realized using a compact slow wave transmission line.

To simplify the design of a beam scanning device, we present a simple and compact structure to realize the frequency scanning characteristic based on a hybrid waveguide consisting of a spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) transmission line and half-mode substrate integrated waveguide (HMSIW). Additionally, the radiation characteristic is implemented using periodically modulated slots. The scanning angle range covers backward to forward directions without an open stop band at the broadside. The results from both simulations and measurements show that the total scanning angle reaches 117° for a frequency range of 9-11.4 GHz. Owing to the inherent features of the HMSIW and the unique design of the SSPP transmission line, the entire structure is only 139.2mm×15mm in size. Moreover, the average gain is approximately 6.5 dBi. Overall, the compact size and good performance ensure that the proposed design is favorable for planar integrated communication systems.

Efficient conversion from spoof surface plasmon polaritons to radiation mode.

A direct conversion from spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) to radiation mode is proposed. A modified parallel two-wire SSPP transmission line is the key to the conversion, which is composed of traditional unit cells with slots among them. Taking advantages of the slots, the phase velocity of electromagnetic waves is larger than that of light, leading to the radiation. Both simulated and measured results show that the radiation occurs from 7.6 to 11 GHz, and the radiation angle keeps nearly stable in the whole operating frequency band, which can be predicted by theoretical calculation. The average gain and efficiency is 6.41 dBi and around 90%, respectively. The simple structure with flexibly tunable operating frequency makes the proposed design promising in planar integrated communication systems.

3D-Printed Low-Cost Dielectric-Resonator-Based Ultra-Broadband Microwave Absorber Using Carbon-Loaded Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Polymer.

In this study, an ultra-broadband dielectric-resonator-based absorber for microwave absorption is numerically and experimentally investigated. The designed absorber is made of the carbon-loaded Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) polymer and fabricated using the 3D printing technology based on fused deposition modeling with a quite low cost. Profiting from the fundamental dielectric resonator (DR) mode, the higher order DR mode and the grating mode of the dielectric resonator, the absorber shows an absorptivity higher than 90% over the whole ultra-broad operating band from 3.9 to 12 GHz. The relative bandwidth can reach over 100% and cover the whole C-band (4⁻8 GHz) and X-band (8⁻12 GHz). Utilizing the numerical simulation, we have discussed the working principle of the absorber in detail. What is more, the absorption performance under different incident angles is also simulated, and the results indicate that the absorber exhibits a high absorptivity at a wide angle of incidence. The advantages of low cost, ultra-broad operating band and a wide-angle feature make the absorber promising in the areas of microwave measurement, stealth technology and energy harvesting.

A Circular Polarizer with Beamforming Feature Based on Frequency Selective Surfaces.

We propose a circular polarizer with beamforming features based on frequency selective surface (FSS), in which a modified anchor-shaped unit cell is used to reach the circular polarizer function. The beamforming characteristic is realized by a particular design of the unit-phase distribution, which is obtained by varying the scale of the unit cell. Instead of using plane waves, a horn antenna is designed to feed the phase-variant FSS. The proposed two-layer FSS is fabricated and measured to verify the design. The measured results show that the proposed structure can convert the linearly polarized waves to circularly polarized waves. Compared with the feeding horn antenna, the transmitted beam of the FSS-added horn is 14.43° broader in one direction, while 3.77° narrower in the orthogonal direction. To our best knowledge, this is the first time to realize circular polarizer with beamforming as the extra function based on FSS, which is promising in satellite and communication systems for potential applications due to its simple design and good performance.

Ultra-wideband filtering of spoof surface plasmon polaritons using deep subwavelength planar structures.

Novel ultra-wideband filtering of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) is proposed in the microwave frequency using deep subwavelength planar structures printed on thin and flexible dielectric substrate. The proposed planar SPPs waveguide is composed of two mirror-oriented metallic corrugated strips, which are further decorated with parallel-arranged slots in the main corrugated strips. This compound structure provides deep subwavelength field confinement as well as flexible parameters when employed as a plasmonic waveguide, which is potential to construct miniaturization. Using momentum and impedance matching technology, we achieve a smooth conversion between the proposed SPPs waveguide and the conventional transmission line. To verify the validity of the design, we fabricate a spoof SPPs filter, and the measured results illustrate excellent performance, in which the reflection coefficient is less than -10 dB within the -3 dB passband from 1.21 GHz to 7.21 GHz with the smallest insertion loss of 1.23 dB at 2.21 GHz, having very good agreements with numerical simulations. The ultra-wideband filter with low insertion loss and high transmission efficiency possesses great potential in modern communication systems.

A series of compact rejection filters based on the interaction between spoof SPPs and CSRRs.

We propose a method to synthesize several band-rejection filters by etching split-ring resonators (SRRs) on the transmission line for spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), which is made of double-side or single-side corrugated metal strips. From dispersion relations, the corrugated strips can support spoof SPP modes when the operating frequency is less than the cutoff frequency. The electric field component perpendicular to the strip surface of the SPP modes can excite the complementary SRRs (CSRRs), leading to resonant modes preventing the SPP propagation near the resonant frequencies. Using this principle, single-frequency rejection filters, double-frequency rejection filters, and broad band-stop filters with bandwidth of 1.5 GHz have been designed and fabricated using the single- and/or double-side corrugated strips. Both measured results and numerical simulations demonstrate the excellent filtering characteristics of all design, which are in good agreements. The isolation of all filters can be less than -20 dB, and even reach to -38 dB at rejection frequencies. The proposed rejection and stop-band filters give important potentials to develop integrated plasmonic functional devices and circuits at microwave and terahertz frequencies.

Capacitive-coupled Series Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons.

A novel method to realize stopband within the operating frequency of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) is presented. The stopband is introduced by a new kind of capacitive-coupled series spoof SPPs. Two conventional H-shaped unit cells are proposed to construct a new unit cell, and every two new unit cells are separated by a gap with certain distance, which is designed to implement capacitive coupling. The original surface impedance matching is disturbed by the capacitive coupling, leading to the stopband during the transmission of SPPs. The proposed method is verified by both numerical simulations and experiments, and the simulated and measured results have good agreements. It is shown that the proposed structure exhibits a stopband in 9-9.5 GHz while the band-pass feature maintains in 5-9 GHz and 9.5-11 GHz. In the passband, the reflection coefficient is less than -10 dB, and the transmission loss is around 3 dB; in the stopband, the reflection coefficient is -2 dB, and the transmission coefficient is less than -30 dB. The compact size, easy fabrication and good band-pass and band-stop features make the proposed structure a promising plasmonic device in SPP communication systems.

Compact Feeding Network for Array Radiations of Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons.

We propose a splitter feeding network for array radiations of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), which are guided by ultrathin corrugated metallic strips. Based on the coupled mode theory, SPP fields along a single waveguide in a certain frequency range can be readily coupled into two adjacent branch waveguides with the same propagation constants. We propose to load U-shaped particles anti-symmetrically at the ends of such two branch waveguides, showing a high integration degree of the feeding network. By controlling linear phase modulations produced by the U-shaped particle chain, we demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the SPP fields based on bound modes can be efficiently radiated to far fields in broadside direction. The proposed method shows that the symmetry of electromagnetic field modes can be exploited to the SPP transmission network, providing potential solutions to compact power dividers and combiners for microwave and optical devices and systems.

Ultra Wideband Polarization-Selective Conversions of Electromagnetic Waves by Metasurface under Large-Range Incident Angles.

We propose an ultra-wideband polarization-conversion metasurface with polarization selective and incident-angle insensitive characteristics using anchor-shaped units through multiple resonances. The broadband characteristic is optimized by the genetic optimization algorithm, from which the anchor-shaped unit cell generates five resonances, resulting in expansion of the operating frequency range. Owing to the structural feature of the proposed metasurface, only x- and y-polarized incident waves can reach high-efficiency polarization conversions, realizing the polarization-selective property. The proposed metasurface is also insensitive to the angle of incident waves, which indicates a promising future in modern communication systems. We fabricate and measure the proposed metasurface, and both the simulated and measured results show ultra-wide bandwidth for the x- and y-polarized incident waves.

Broadband frequency-selective spoof surface plasmon polaritons on ultrathin metallic structure.

We propose an ultrathin metallic structure to produce frequency-selective spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in the microwave and terahertz frequencies. Designed on a thin dielectric substrate, the ultrathin metallic structure is composed of two oppositely oriented single-side corrugated strips, which are coupled to two double-side corrugated strips. The structure is fed by a traditional coplanar waveguide (CPW). To make a smooth conversion between the spatial modes in CPW and SPP modes, two transition sections are also designed. We fabricate and measure the frequency-selective spoof SPP structure in microwave frequencies. The measurement results show that the reflection coefficient is less than -10 dB with the transmission loss around 1.5 dB in the selective frequency band from 7 to 10 GHz, which are in good agreements with numerical simulations. The proposed structure can be used as an SPP filter with good performance of low loss, high transmission, and wide bandwidth in the selective frequency band.

[Study on solid phase extraction and spectrophotometric determination of uranium in water with 2-(2-quinolylazo)-5-dimthylaminophenol].

A new chromogenic reagent 2-(2-quinolylazo)-5-Dimthylaminophenol (QADMAP) was synthesized, and its structure was verified by elemental analysis, infrared spectrum, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum, mass spectrumand UV-spectrum. The color reaction of QADMAP with uranium was studied. In the presence of pH 7.8 buffer solution, when fluorin ion and TritonX-100 medium exist, QADMAP can react with uranium and fluorin to form a stable 1 : 1 : 1 stable complex [F- :QADMAP : U(VI)]. The molar absorptivity is 1.05 x 10(5) L x mol(-1) x cm(-1) at 590 nm. Beer's law is obeyed in range of 0-20 microg/10 mL. The uranium in samples can be enriched and separated by solid phase extraction with TBP resin cartridge. This method is applied to the determination of uranium in water sample. The relative standard deviations are 2.2%-3.6%, and the recoveries are 94%-105%.

[Study on the solid phase extraction spectrophotometric determination of mercury in water with 5-(2-hydroxy-4-sulfo-5-chlorophenol-1-azo)-thiorhodanine].

Based on the color reaction of mercurywith 5-(2-hydroxy-4-sulfo-5-chlorophenol-1-azo)-thiorhodanine (HSTC) and the solid phase extraction of the colored complex with C18 cartridge, a new method for the determinations microg x L(-1) level of mercury was studied. In the presence of pH 3.6 HAc-NaAc buffer solution. HSTC reacted with mercury (II) to form a stable 2:1 complex. This complex was enriched by solid phase extraction with C18 cartridge and the retained complex from cartridge was eluted with DMF. An enrichment factor of 80 was achieved. In the measured solution, the molar absorptivity was 6.24 x 10(4) L x moL(-1) x cm(-1) at 545 nm. Beer's law was obeyed in the range of 0-1.5 microg x mL(-1). This method was applied to the determination of mercury in water. The relative standard devitions were 1.8%-2.2% and the recoveries were 93%-106%. The results are satisfactory.

[Study on spectrophotometric determination of silver(I) with 2-(2-quinolinylazo)-1,5-dihydroxidebenzene].

The color reaction of silver(I) with 2-(2-quinolinylazo)-1,5-dihydroxidebenzene (QADHB) and the solid phase extraction of the colored chelate with Waters Sep-Park C18 cartridge were developed. In the presence of pH = 5.0 sodium citrate-sodium hydroxide buffer solution and sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS) medium, QADHB can reacts with silver to form a chelate of a molar ratio 1:2 (silver to QADHB). This chelate can be enriched by the solid phase extraction with Waters Sep-Park C18 cartridge. The retained chelate can be eluted from cartridge with ethanol. In ethanol medium, the molar absorptivity is 6.99 x 10(4) L x mol(-1) x cm(-1) at 550 nm. Beer's law is obeyed in the range of 0-1.2 microg x mL(-1). This method can be applied to the determination of silver in water with satisfactory results.

[Study on solid-phase-extraction spectrophotometric determination of silver with p-sulfobenzylidene-rhodanine].

The color reaction of silver with p-sulfobenzylidene-rhodanine (SBDR) was studied. Based on the color reaction of SBDR with silver (I) and the solid phase extraction of its colored complex with Waters Porapak Sep-Park-C18 cartridge, a new method for the determination of micro-amount of silver (I) was studied. In the presence of pH = 2.8 citric acid-sodium hydroxide buffer solution and Tween-80 medium, SBDR can react with silver (I) to form a stable 2:1 complex. The colored complex can be extracted by C18 cartridge and eluted by ethanol (containing 5% acetic acid), and then can be determined by spectrophotometry. The molar absorptivity is 7.53 x 10(4) L x mol(-1) x cm(-1) at 520 nm. Beer's law is obeyed in the range of 0-1.2 microg x (25 mL)(-1). This method can be applied to the determination of silver in water with satisfactory results.