Generalized homogenization theory and inverse design of periodic electromagnetic metamaterials

textArtificial metamaterials composed of specifically designed subwavelength unit cells can support an exotic material response and present a promising future for various microwave, terahertz and optical applications. Metamaterials essentially provide the concept to microscopically manipulate light through their subwavelength inclusions, and the overall structure can be macroscopically treated as homogeneous bulk material characterized by a simple set of constitutive parameters, such as permittivity and permeability. In this dissertation, we present a complete homogenization theory applicable to one-, two- and three-dimensional metamaterials composed of nonconnected subwavelength elements. The homogenization theory provides not only deep insights to electromagnetic wave propagation among metamaterials, but also allows developing a useful and efficient analysis method for engineering metamaterials. We begin the work by proposing a general retrieval procedure to characterize arbitrary subwavelength elements in terms of a polarizability tensor. Based on this system, we may start the macroscopic analysis of metamaterials by analyzing the scattering properties of their microscopic building blocks. For one-dimensional linear arrays, we present the dispersion relations for single and parallel linear chains and study their potential use as sub-diffractive waveguides and leaky-wave antennas. For two-dimensional arrays, we interpret the metasurfaces as homogeneous surfaces and characterize their properties by a complete six-by-six tensorial effective surface susceptibility. This model also offers the possibility to derive analytical transmission and reflection coefficients for metasurfaces composed of arbitrary nonconnected inclusions with TE and TM mutual coupling. For three-dimensional metamaterials, we present a generalized theory to homogenize arrays by effective tensorial permittivity, permeability and magneto-electric coupling coefficients. This model captures comprehensive anisotropic and bianisotropic properties of metamaterials. Based on this theory, we also modify the conventional retrieval method to extract physically meaningful effective parameters of given metamaterials and fundamentally explain the common non-causality issues associated with parameter retrieval. Finally, we conceptually propose an inverse design procedure for three-dimensional metamaterials that can efficiently determine the geometry of the inclusions required to achieve the anomalous properties, such as double-negative response, in the desired frequency regime.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Efficient computation of the magnetic polarizabiltiy tensor spectral signature using proper orthogonal decomposition

The identification of hidden conducting permeable objects from measurements of the perturbed magnetic field taken over a range of low frequencies is important in metal detection. Applications include identifying threat items in security screening at transport hubs, location of unexploded ordnance, and antipersonnel landmines in areas of former conflict, searching for items of archeological significance and recycling of valuable metals. The solution of the inverse problem, or more generally locating and classifying objects, has attracted considerable attention recently using polarizability tensors. The magnetic polarizability tensor (MPT) provides a characterization of a conducting permeable object using a small number of coefficients, has an explicit formula for the calculation of their coefficients, and a well understood frequency behavior, which we call its spectral signature. However, to compute such signatures, and build a library of them for object classification, requires the repeated solution of a transmission problem, which is typically accomplished approximately using a finite element discretization. To reduce the computational cost, we propose an efficient reduced order model (ROM) that further reduces the problem using a proper orthogonal decomposition for the rapid computation of MPT spectral signatures. Our ROM benefits from a posteriori error estimates of the accuracy of the predicted MPT coefficients with respect to those obtained with finite element solutions. These estimates can be computed cheaply during the online stage of the ROM allowing the ROM prediction to be certified. To further increase the efficiency of the computation of the MPT spectral signature, we provide scaling results, which enable an immediate calculation of the signature under changes in the object size or conductivity. We illustrate our approach by application to a range of homogenous and inhomogeneous conducting permeable objects

Near-field Optical Interactions And Applications

The propagation symmetry of electromagnetic fields is affected by encounters with material systems. The effects of such interactions, for example, modifications of intensity, phase, polarization, angular spectrum, frequency, etc. can be used to obtain information about the material system. However, the propagation of electromagnetic waves imposes a fundamental limit to the length scales over which the material properties can be observed. In the realm of near-field optics, this limitation is overcome only through a secondary interaction that couples the high-spatial-frequency (but non-propagating) field components to propagating waves that can be detected. The available information depends intrinsically on this secondary interaction, which constitutes the topic of this study. Quantitative measurements of material properties can be performed only by controlling the subtle characteristics of these processes. This dissertation discusses situations where the effects of near-field interactions can be (i) neglected in certain passive testing techniques, (ii) exploited for active probing of static or dynamic systems, or (iii) statistically isolated when considering optically inhomogeneous materials. This dissertation presents novel theoretical developments, experimental measurements, and numerical results that elucidate the vectorial aspects of the interaction between light and nano-structured material for use in sensing applications

Classification of Metallic Targets Using a Walk-Through Metal Detection Portal

Metal detectors have been used for a long time for treasure hunting, security screening, and finding buried objects such as landmines or unexploded ordnance. Walk-through metal detection (WTMD) portals are used for making sure that forbidden or threatening metallic items, such as knives or guns, are not carried into secure areas at critical locations such as airports, court rooms, embassies, and prisons.The 9/11 terrorist act has given rise to stricter rules for aviation security worldwide, and the ensuing tighter security procedures have meant that passengers face more delays at airports. Moreover, the fear of terrorism has led to the adoption of security screening technology in a variety of places such as railway and coach stations, sports events, malls, and nightclubs.However, the current WTMD technology and scanning procedures at airports require that all metallic items be removed from clothing prior to scanning, causing inconvenience. Furthermore, alarms are triggered by innocuous items such as shoe shanks and artificial joints, along with overlooked items such as jewellery and belts. These lead to time- consuming, manual pat-down searches, which are found inconvenient, uncomfortable, and obtrusive by some.Modern WTMD portals are very sensitive devices that can detect items with only small amounts of metal, but they currently lack the ability to further classify the detected item. However, if a WTMD portal were able to classify objects reliably into, e.g., “knives”, “belts”, “keys”, the need for removing the items prior to screening would disappear, enabling a paradigm shift in the field of security screening.This thesis is based on novel research presented in five peer-reviewed publications. The scope of the problem has been narrowed down to a situation in which only one metallic item is carried through the portal at a time. However, the methods and results presented in this thesis can be generalized into a multi-object scenario. It has been shown that by using a WTMD portal and the magnetic polarisability tensor, it is possible to accurately distinguish between threatening and innocuous targets and to classify them into 10 to 13 arbitrary classes. Furthermore, a data library consisting of natural walk-throughs has been collected, and it has been demonstrated that the walk-through data collected with the above portal are subject to phenomena that might affect classification, in particular a bias and the so-called body effect. However, the publications show that, by using realistic walk-through data, high classification accuracy can be maintained regardless of the above problems. Furthermore, a self-diagnostics method for detecting unreliable samples has also been presented with potential to significantly increase classification accuracy and the reliability of decision making.The contributions presented in this thesis have a variety of implications in the field of WTMD-based security screening. The novel technology offers more information, such as an indication of the probable cause of the alarm, to support the conventional screening procedure. Moreover, eliminating the need for removing all metallic items prior to screening enables design of new products for scenarios such as sports events, where conventional screening procedures might be inconvenient, creating thus new business possibilities for WTMD manufacturing companies.The positive results give rise to a variety of future research topics such as using wideband data, enabling simultaneous classification of multiple objects, and developing the portal coil design to diminish signal nonlinearities. Furthermore, the ideas and the basic principles presented in this thesis may be applied to other metal detection applications, such as humanitarian demining