Seminar - Professor Raj Mittra

Speaker

Professor Raj Mittra, University of Central Florida, USA

Topic

Dial-A-Dielectric: Artificial Synthesis of Dielectric Materials for Lens and Reflectarray Antennas

Abstract

Recently there has been much interest in designing low profile lenses, e.g., graded index (GRIN) flat lenses, as well as in developing broadband reflectarrays, both of which often call for dielectric materials that are not available off-the-shelf. In this presentation we will describe a systematic technique for synthesizing artificially engineered dielectric materials, referred to herein as Dial-a-Dielectric (DaD) approach, which is useful for fabricating flat lenses or metasurfaces. We will begin by describing the results of studies pertaining to the synthesis of dielectric materials that use low-er host materials with air or metallic particle inclusions, with cuboid or spherical shapes, for example. The effective dielectric constant of such materials are controlled by the volume fraction of the inclusions. One could design a variable DaD surface by varying this volume fraction, which can not only control the gain and beam pattern of a patch antenna placed upon it, but also the excitation or suppression of surface waves.

The talk will illustrate the application of the DaD technique by using a number of practical examples involving flat lenses and reflectarrays, and by presenting representative results for these antennas.

Speaker's biography

Raj Mittra is a Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Science of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL., where he is the Director of the Electromagnetic Communication Laboratory. Prior to joining the University of Central Florida, he worked at Penn State as a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering from 1996 through June, 2015. He also worked as a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign from 1957 through 1996, when he moved to the Penn State University.

He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE, a Past-President of AP-S, and he has served as the Editor of the Transactions of the Antennas and Propagation Society. He won the Guggenheim Fellowship Award in 1965, the IEEE Centennial Medal in 1984, and the IEEE Millennium medal in 2000. Other honors include the IEEE/AP-S Distinguished Achievement Award in 2002, the Chen-To Tai Education Award in 2004 and the IEEE Electromagnetics Award in 2006, and the IEEE James H. Mulligan Award in 2011.

Dr. Mittra is a Principal Scientist and President of RM Associates, a consulting company founded in 1980, which provides services to industrial and governmental organizations, both in the U.S. and abroad.