Computational Analysis of Metasurfaces

• Published in: IEEE journal on multiscale and multiphysics computational techniques Vol. 3; pp. 37 - 49
• Main Authors: Vahabzadeh, Yousef, Chamanara, Nima, Achouri, Karim, Caloz, Christophe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2018
• Subjects: Analytical models; Bianistropic media; computational electromagnetics; Computational modeling; Finite difference methods; finite-difference frequency domain (FDFD); finite-difference time domain (FDTD); finite-element method (FEM); generalized sheet transition conditions (GSTCs); Mathematical model; Media; metamaterials; metasurface; Scattering; sheet discontinuity; spectral-domain integral equation (SD-IE); Time-domain analysis
• ISSN: 2379-8815; 2379-8815
• DOI: 10.1109/JMMCT.2018.2829871

Metasurfaces represent one of the most vibrant fields of modern science and technology. A metasurface is a complex electromagnetic structure, which is typically deeply subwavelength in thickness, electrically large in transverse size, and composed of subwavelength scattering particles with extremely small features; it may generally be bianisotropic, space-varying and time-varying, nonlinear, curved, and multiphysics. With such complexity, the design of a metasurface requires a holistic approach, involving synergistic synthesis and analysis operations, based on a solid model. The generalized sheet transition conditions (GSTCs), combined with bianisotropic surface susceptibility functions, provide such a model and allow now for the design of sophisticated metasurfaces, which still represented a major challenge a couple of years ago. This paper presents this problem, focusing on the computational analysis of metasurfaces via the GSTC-susceptibility approach. It shows that this analysis plays a crucial role in the holistic design of metasurfaces and overviews recently reported related frequency-domain (finite-difference frequency-domain, spectral-domain integral-equation, and finite-element method) and time-domain (finite-difference time-domain) computational techniques.