Metamaterial Survivability in the High‐Power Microwave Environment

This chapter investigates the ability of the artificial materials to survive in the harsh high‐power microwave (HPM) environment and lay the framework for considering the application of these materials in HPM devices. It utilizes the original Walser definition for a metamaterials (MTM); a subclass of artificial materials that exhibit both a simultaneous negative permittivity and permeability. The key configuration to realize MTM subwavelength geometries is the double split ring resonator (SRR) and wire array configuration mounted on a dielectric substrate. The chapter shows that MTMs based on SRRs suffer high losses dominated by dielectric losses in the substrate required to mechanically support the structure. Complementary split ring resonators are the all metal inverse images of the SRR. The chapter focuses on localized breakdown of an individual subwavelength elements, and the impact these localized defects would have on HPM device operation.