Brandon L. Good

The ability to fabricate multifunctional devices that combine good structural properties with embedded electromagnetic functionality has many practical applications, including antireflective surfaces for structural radomes, load bearing conformal antennas, integrated RF transmission lines and passive beam forming networks. We describe here a custom made 3D printer that can print high dielectric constant ceramic powders within a low-loss structural composite substrate to produce mechanically robust parts with integrated graded dielectric properties. We fabricated a number of these parts and evaluated their anisotropic dielectric properties by determining the complete permittivity tensor of the printed samples as a function of local powder weight. This data was then experimentally validated using two practical examples: a Chebyshev antireflective stack and a 2D passive beamsteering network. The results of both electromagnetic systems displayed acceptable agreement between the simulated and measured results. This agreement shows that powder printing is a potential approach for fabricating spatially graded dielectric electromagnetic systems.

We describe a new methodology for creating flat lenses operating in the microwave spectrum using a custom designed additive manufacturing system. This method utilizes a novel dry powder 3D printing system to achieve graded index lenses integrated within a structural composite. We also describe a new iterative dot patterning algorithm to achieve a desired graded dielectric distribution, and we compare the iterative dot patterning algorithm to other dot patterning techniques. Computational and experimental results are provided validating the design and fabrication process.

A number of practical application areas would benefit from the development of thin wideband antireflective (AR) surfaces. Here, we incorporate magnetic materials into AR gradings using two approaches. 1) We use the analytic approach demonstrated in a recent paper that details an optimal wideband AR design using a continuous one-dimensional (1-D) grading of dispersive dielectrics [1]. We extend the dispersive nonmagnetic equations in [1] to design perfect AR magneto-dielectric gradings. 2) We derive a spatial-coordinate transformation (SCT) approach that transforms the nonmagnetics solution to achieve a perfect AR magneto-dielectric grading. We find, in general, that the SCT method enables more realizable and flexible solutions. We detail a practical approach for realizing the magneto-dielectric gradings using subwavelength texturing (i.e., motheye method). Several numerical examples demonstrate the utility of this approach in realizing very thin, yet broadband, and AR designs.

We describe a computational imaging technique to extend the depth-of-field of a 94-GHz imaging system. The technique uses a cubic phase element in the pupil plane of the system to render system operation relatively insensitive to object distance. However, the cubic phase element also introduces aberrations but, since these are fixed and known, we remove them using post-detection signal processing. We present experimental results that validate system performance and indicate a greater than four-fold increase in depth-of-field from 17rdquo to greater than 68rdquo.

We describe a computational imaging technique to extend the depth-of field of a 94-GHz imaging system. The technique uses a cubic phase element in the pupil plane of the system to render system operation relatively insensitive to object distance. However, the cubic phase element also introduces aberrations but, since these are fixed and known, we remove them using post-detection signal processing. We present experimental results that validate system performance and indicate a greater than four-fold increase in depth-of-field from 17" to greater than 68".