The Pixelated Metasurface: A Novel Component Design Approach

This work introduces a novel metamaterial-based design concept where the combination of metasurface unitcells and dielectric-substrate stencils is applied to create various passive microwave components by controlling the slow-wave (SW) and electromagnetic-bandgap (EBG) properties of the unitcells. In this manner, the SW and EBG conditions are synonymous to ON-state or OFF-state, respectively, and various components can be created by adopting stencil patterns that effectively control the propagation of electromagnetic waves. The underlying principle for the concept is first described and then applied to create various passive components using patterned substrate stencils. To validate the concept, a multipurpose four-port testbed is developed for implementing different passive components, which include a transmission line, an H-plane bend, a power divider/combiner, and a two-pole filter. Moreover, for the purpose of exploring other practical applications, an additional two-port testbed is designed and demonstrated for various surface-mount filter scenarios.