Department of Electrical Engineering, Computational Electromagnetics and Antennas Research Laboratory (CEARL), The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, PA, USA.
Lockheed Martin Space, Littleton, 80127, CO, USA.
Nat Commun. 2019 Jan 10;10(1):108. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-08032-w.
Nearly two decades of intense study have passed since the term metamaterials was first introduced in 1999. In spite of their great promise, however, metamaterials have been slow to find their way into practical devices, and examples of real-world applications remain rare. In this paper, an Advanced Short Backfire Antenna (A-SBFA), augmented with anisotropic metamaterial surfaces (metasurfaces), has been designed to achieve a very high aperture efficiency across two frequency bands. This performance is unprecedented for an antenna that has seen widespread use, but few design changes over its more than 50 year existence. The reduced weight, compact design, hexagonal aperture, high dual-band efficiency, high cross-polarization isolation, as well as low multipaction and passive intermodulation (PIM) risk make the A-SBFA ideal for spaceborne applications. This transformative design demonstrates how practical metamaterials, when applied to conventional antenna technology, can provide significant performance enhancements.
自 1999 年首次提出超材料一词以来，已经过去了近二十年的深入研究。然而，尽管超材料具有巨大的应用前景，但它们在实际设备中的应用却一直进展缓慢，实际应用的例子仍然很少。在本文中，设计了一种具有各向异性超材料表面（metasurfaces）的改进型短背射天线（A-SBFA），以在两个频带内实现非常高的孔径效率。对于一种已经得到广泛应用但在其 50 多年的历史中几乎没有设计变化的天线来说，这种性能是前所未有的。重量减轻、紧凑的设计、六边形孔径、高双频带效率、高交叉极化隔离以及低多碰撞和无源互调（PIM）风险使 A-SBFA 成为天基应用的理想选择。这种变革性的设计展示了实用的超材料应用于传统天线技术时如何提供显著的性能提升。
