Metamaterial Electromagnetic Wave Absorbers (Synthesis Lectures on Electromagnetics)

Electromagnetic metamaterials are a family of shaped periodic materials which achieve extraordinary scattering properties that are difficult or impossible to achieve with naturally occurring materials. This book focuses on one such feature of electromagnetic metamaterials―the theory, properties, and applications of the absorption of electromagnetic radiation. We have written this book for undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and practitioners, covering the background and tools necessary to engage in the research and practice of metamaterial electromagnetic wave absorbers in various fundamental and applied settings. Given the growing impact of climate change, the call for innovations that can circumvent the use of conventional energy sources will be increasingly important. As we highlight in Chapter 6, the absorption of radiation with electromagnetic metamaterials has been used for energy harvesting and energy generation, and will help to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Other applications ranging from biochemical sensing to imaging are also covered. We hope this book equips interested readers with the tools necessary to successfully engage in applied metamaterials research for clean, sustainable energy. This book consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction and a brief history of electromagnetic wave absorbers; Chapter 2 focuses on several theories of perfect absorbers; Chapter 3 discusses the scattering properties achievable with metamaterial absorbers; Chapter 4 provides significant detail on the fabricational processes; Chapter 5 discusses examples of dynamical absorbers; and Chapter 6 highlights applications of metamaterial absorbers.

Willie J. Padilla is a Full Professor in the Department of ECE at Duke University with Physics M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California San Diego. He was a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory. In 2007 he received a Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research, and Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2011. In 2012 he was elected a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, and Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow in 2013. Dr. Padilla was elevated to Senior Member of the SPIE in 2018, and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Professor Padilla is a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Physics in 2018 and 2019, has more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, 2 book chapters, and 7 issued patents. He heads a group working in the area of artificially structured systems including metamaterials with a focus on machine learning, computational imaging, spectroscopy, and energy.Kebin Fan is an Associate Professor in the School of Electronic Science and Engineering at Nanjing University, China. He received a Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from Boston University in 2012. He was a Post-Doctoral Researcher and then a Research Scientist with the Boston College and Duke University from 2012–2018. He was a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of ECE at Duke University before joining Nanjing University in 2020. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and 3 issued patents. His research interests include terahertz and infrared metamaterial devices, energy harvesting, imaging, and micro-nanofabrication techniques.