Thermally Switchable Wideband Metamaterial Absorber using Vanadium Dioxide

In this paper, a switchable Metamaterial Absorber (MMA) design and simulation based on phase change material (VO
2
) is presented. VO
2
has been used for the switchable behaviour of MMA. The proposed design is having absorption bandwidth of 2.11 to 8.41 GHz covering the S and C bands for normal incidence of electromagnetic waves. When VO
2
is in the metallic state, the design works as a wide band absorber whereas in the insulating state, it behaves as a wide band reflector. The design is symmetrical which leads to polarisation insensitive behaviour of MMA. It is stable for oblique incidence response up to 30 degrees for TE polarization and up to 60 degrees for TM polarization. The profile of MMA is $0.098 \lambda_{L}$ with a periodicity of $0.141 \lambda_{L}$ where $\lambda_{L}$ corresponds to the lowest frequency. The proposed MMA will be an effective way out of the problem of complex DC biasing circuits and the use of multiple lumped elements in active metamaterial absorbers.