UC San Diego

A broadening application range has increased demand for advanced RF control. Recent research has identified several metamaterials to provide this control. This work seeks to expand this idea through several novel metamaterials with enhanced electromagnetic properties. First copper wires braided with Kevlar and nylon to form conductive coils are woven among structural fiber to create a fabric. This yielded a composite with all coils possessing the same handedness, producing a chiral material. The measured scattering parameters showed considerable chirality within the 5.5-8GHz frequency band, agreeing with simulation results. Electronic chirality tuning is investigated by integrating varactor diodes into an array of helical elements on a printed circuit board. Applying a varied reverse bias voltage across the sample effectively tunes the chiral behavior of the material. The measurements demonstrate the feasibility of creating a rigid helix composite with tuned chirality in the 5.5- 12.4GHz frequency band. Chirality can be further tuned mechanically through the deformation of an array of conductive coils. Parallel, metallic helices embedded in a polyurethane matrix are subjected to mechanical stretching for pitch adjustment. This change in pitch directly affects the overall chirality of the composite. Repeatable elastic deformation is achieved up to 50% axial strain. Over the 5.5-12.5GHz frequency range, an increase of 30% axial strain yields an ~18% change in axial chirality. Hyperbolic microwave focusing is explored through an indefinite medium with anisotropic permittivity. An array of 12-gauge brass wires is embedded in Styrofoam and scanned over the 7-9GHz frequency band to establish focusing patterns. A soft-focusing spot is observed at 7.6GHz with a relative gain of ~7dB over averaged background. Applying an axial refractive gradient to a coil composite creates a lens capable of fine adjustment in the microwave range. The gradient required to achieve sharp focusing, and the extent of this effect, is calculated through an anisotropic ray-tracing analysis. A composite is created using coils of opposite handedness to minimize chiral effects. Through extension of these coils, the refractive index can effectively be fine-tuned to achieve the desired result. Measurements and full-wave simulations confirm a gain of 6-8dB over averaged background at the predicted focal frequencies