In this thesis two issues in nanotechnology have been addressed. The first is the comprehensive characterization of engineered nanomaterials prior to their examination in toxicology and environmental studies. The second is the development of a method to produce nanostructure arrays over large areas and for low cost. A major challenge when assessing nanomaterial’s risks is the robust characterization of their physicochemical properties, particularly in commercial products. Such data allows the critical features for biological outcomes to be determined. This work focused on the inorganic oxides that were studied in powdered and dispersed forms as well as directly in consumer sunscreen products. The most important finding was that the commercial sunscreens that listed titania or zinc oxide as ingredients contained nanoscale materials. Cell free photochemical tests revealed that ZnO particles without any surface coating were more active at generating ROS than surface coated TiO2 nanoparticles. These studies make clear the importance of exposure studies that examine the native form of nanomaterials directly in commercial products. The second part of this thesis presents the development of a new method to fabricate gold nanoring and nanocrescent arrays over large areas; such materials have unique optical properties consonant with those described as metamaterials. A new shaped nanosphere lithography approach was used to manipulate the form of silica nanospheres packed onto a surface; the resulting array of mushroom structures provided a mask that after gold evaporation and etching left either golden rings or crescents over the surface. The structures had tunable features, with outer diameters ranging from 200 to 350 nm for rings and crescent gap angles of ten to more than a hundred degrees. The use of a double mask method ensured the uniform coverage of these structured over 1 cm2 areas. Experimental and theoretical investigations of the optical properties of the arrays revealed the optical resonances in the infrared region. Finally, in the course of developing the nanorings, etch conditions were developed to deposit large area arrays of polystyrene nanodoughnuts with diameters from 128 to 242 nm. These non-conductive structures provide an ideal template for further attachment of magnetic of optically emissive nanoparticles.

In the last decade, design and application of negative materials have been one of the most interesting subjects in the electromagnetic research. The extraordinary properties of double negative (DNG) and single negative (SNG) materials have been studied extensively over this period. In this thesis, one of the unusual properties of negative materials, the evanescent amplification, is used to improve the sensitivity of the near field probes. The effect of placing DNG and SNG layers between the near field probes and the targets are investigated theoretically. A sensitivity definition is introduced for evanescent probes and it is shown using quantitative measures that the sensitivity can be increased using DNG and SNG materials for a target in vacuum and for a buried target. The electromagnetic loss of the negative materials and the mismatch between the material properties of the host medium and DNG and SNG materials are studied. Using an unmatched DNG layer or SNG layer enhances the sensitivity within an evanescent spectrum range while a lossless and matched DNG layer improves the sensitivity of entire evanescent spectrum. The idea of using negative materials is implemented over conventional near field probes by numerical experiments. Sensitivities of open-ended waveguides and open-ended coaxial lines for a specific application are studied in the presence of negative materials. In the case of precursor pitting detection on airplane bodies, the sensitivity of an open-ended waveguide probe is increased by 35 times for a λ/10 sized cubic crack. It is also shown that the negative material increases the quality of the image generated by the probe. The sensitivity improvement is also verified for an open-ended coaxial line. A 11 times improvement is achieved for a similar detection practice, with a λ/20 sized crack. The effect of coaxial line size and the dielectric material on the sensitivity enhancement are studied. The improvement is studied theoretically and numerically for an electrically small dipole. Theoretical studies show that when a small dipole is placed within a spherical shell made of DNG materials, the antenna parameters of the dipole becomes more sensitive to the position of a target placed outside the negative material shell. The field distribution generated by a small dipole in a multilayered spherical medium is studied for this purpose. Numerical analysis of a small dipole placed next to a planar DNG layer is presented. The DNG layer increases the sensitivity of the dipole due to a λ/30 sized metallic target by 5.5 times. To provide experimental verification, the sensitivity of an electrically small loop is studied. SNG materials with a negative permeability around 1.25 GHz are designed using modified split ring resonators (MSRR). By using the effective parameters of the designed structure, a sensitivity improvement of 10 times is achieved numerically. The improvement is verified using fabricated MSRR structures. The sensitivity of the small loop is enhanced by 9 times for a λ/12.2 sized metallic target. The sensitivity improvements are achieved within the frequency band where the MSRR structures behave as a μ-negative SNG material.

Artificial Magnetic Materials (AMMs) are a subgroup of metamaterials which are engineered to provide desirable magnetic properties not seen in natural materials. These artificial structures are designed to provide either negative or enhanced positive (higher than one) relative permeability. AMMs with negative permeability are used to develop Single Negative (SNG), or Double Negative (DNG) metamaterials. AMMs with enhanced positive permeability are used to provide magneto-dielectric materials at microwave frequencies where the natural magnetic materials fail to work efficiently. AMMs are realized by embedding metallic resonators in a host dielectric. These inclusions provide desirable magnetic properties near their resonance frequency. Artificial magnetic materials used as SNG, or DNG have many applications such as: sub-wavelength cavity resonators, sub-wavelength parallel-plate wave guides, sub-wavelength cylindrical and spherical core–shell systems, efficient electrically small dipole antennas, super lenses, THz active devices, sensitivity enhancement near-field probes using double and single negative media, and mutual coupling reduction between antennas. On the other hand, artificial magnetic materials used as magneto-dielectrics have other applications in developing enhanced bandwidth efficient miniaturized antennas, low profile enhanced gain antennas using artificial magnetic superstrates, wide band woodpile Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) structures, EBGs with enhanced in-phase reflection bandwidth used as artificial magnetic ground planes. In this thesis, several advances are added to the existing knowledge of developing artificial magnetic materials, in terms of analytical modeling, applications, realization, and experimental characterization. To realize AMMs with miniaturized unit cells, new inclusions based on fractal Hilbert curves are introduced, and analyzed. Analytical models, numerical full wave simulation, and experimental characterization are used to analyze, and study the new structures. A comprehensive comparison is made between the new inclusions, and perviously developed inclusions in terms of electromagnetic properties. The new inclusions have advantages of miniaturization, and less dispersion when compared to the existing structures in the literature. To realize multi-band AMMs, unit cells with multiple inclusions are proposed, designed, and analyzed. The new unit cells can be designed to give the desired magnetic properties either over distinguished multiple frequency bands, or over a single wide frequency band. Numerical full wave simulation is used to verify the proposed concept, and analytical models are provided for design, and optimization of the new unit cells. Unit cells with different configurations are optimized to get a wideband responce for the effective permeability. Space mapping technique is used to provide a link between analytically optimized structures, and full wave numerical simulation results. Two new methods are proposed for experimental characterization of artificial structures using microstrip, and strip line topologies. Using numerical results, the effect of anisotropy on the accuracy of the extracted parameters are investigated, and a fitting solution is proposed, and verified to address this challenge. New structures based on 2nd , and 3rd order fractal Hilbert curves are fabricated, and characterized using microstrip line, and strip line fixtures. Experimental results are presented, and compared with numerical results. The new experimental methods have advantages of lower cost, easier to fabricate and measure, and smaller sample size when compared to the existing methods in the literature. A new application is proposed for use of magnetic materials to develop wide band artificial magnetic conductors (AMC). Analytical models, and numerical analysis is used to validate the concept. A new ultra wideband AMC is designd, and analysed. The designed AMC is used as the ground plane to develop a low profile high gain ultra wide band antenna. The designed antenna is simulated, and its return loss, and gain is presented over a wide range of frequencies. A comprehensive study is presented on the performance of AMMs for the application of miniaturized antennas. A miniaturized antenna, using fractal Hilbert metamaterials as substrate, is fabricated, and measured. Measurement results are presented, and compared with numerical results. A parametric study is presented on the effect of the constitutive parameters of the artificial substrate on the performance of the miniaturized antenna. In this study, the effect of magnetic loss of AMM on the gain, and efficiency of the antenna, as well as the effect of dispersion of AMM on the bandwidth of the antenna is investigated.

In the last decade, design and application of negative materials have been one of the most interesting subjects in the electromagnetic research. The extraordinary properties of double negative (DNG) and single negative (SNG) materials have been studied extensively over this period. In this thesis, one of the unusual properties of negative materials, the evanescent amplification, is used to improve the sensitivity of the near field probes. The effect of placing DNG and SNG layers between the near field probes and the targets are investigated theoretically. A sensitivity definition is introduced for evanescent probes and it is shown using quantitative measures that the sensitivity can be increased using DNG and SNG materials for a target in vacuum and for a buried target. The electromagnetic loss of the negative materials and the mismatch between the material properties of the host medium and DNG and SNG materials are studied. Using an unmatched DNG layer or SNG layer enhances the sensitivity within an evanescent spectrum range while a lossless and matched DNG layer improves the sensitivity of entire evanescent spectrum. The idea of using negative materials is implemented over conventional near field probes by numerical experiments. Sensitivities of open-ended waveguides and open-ended coaxial lines for a specific application are studied in the presence of negative materials. In the case of precursor pitting detection on airplane bodies, the sensitivity of an open-ended waveguide probe is increased by 35 times for a λ/10 sized cubic crack. It is also shown that the negative material increases the quality of the image generated by the probe. The sensitivity improvement is also verified for an open-ended coaxial line. A 11 times improvement is achieved for a similar detection practice, with a λ/20 sized crack. The effect of coaxial line size and the dielectric material on the sensitivity enhancement are studied. The improvement is studied theoretically and numerically for an electrically small dipole. Theoretical studies show that when a small dipole is placed within a spherical shell made of DNG materials, the antenna parameters of the dipole becomes more sensitive to the position of a target placed outside the negative material shell. The field distribution generated by a small dipole in a multilayered spherical medium is studied for this purpose. Numerical analysis of a small dipole placed next to a planar DNG layer is presented. The DNG layer increases the sensitivity of the dipole due to a λ/30 sized metallic target by 5.5 times. To provide experimental verification, the sensitivity of an electrically small loop is studied. SNG materials with a negative permeability around 1.25 GHz are designed using modified split ring resonators (MSRR). By using the effective parameters of the designed structure, a sensitivity improvement of 10 times is achieved numerically. The improvement is verified using fabricated MSRR structures. The sensitivity of the small loop is enhanced by 9 times for a λ/12.2 sized metallic target. The sensitivity improvements are achieved within the frequency band where the MSRR structures behave as a μ-negative SNG material.

Artificial Magnetic Materials (AMMs) are a subgroup of metamaterials which are engineered to provide desirable magnetic properties not seen in natural materials. These artificial structures are designed to provide either negative or enhanced positive (higher than one) relative permeability. AMMs with negative permeability are used to develop Single Negative (SNG), or Double Negative (DNG) metamaterials. AMMs with enhanced positive permeability are used to provide magneto-dielectric materials at microwave frequencies where the natural magnetic materials fail to work efficiently. AMMs are realized by embedding metallic resonators in a host dielectric. These inclusions provide desirable magnetic properties near their resonance frequency. Artificial magnetic materials used as SNG, or DNG have many applications such as: sub-wavelength cavity resonators, sub-wavelength parallel-plate wave guides, sub-wavelength cylindrical and spherical core–shell systems, efficient electrically small dipole antennas, super lenses, THz active devices, sensitivity enhancement near-field probes using double and single negative media, and mutual coupling reduction between antennas. On the other hand, artificial magnetic materials used as magneto-dielectrics have other applications in developing enhanced bandwidth efficient miniaturized antennas, low profile enhanced gain antennas using artificial magnetic superstrates, wide band woodpile Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) structures, EBGs with enhanced in-phase reflection bandwidth used as artificial magnetic ground planes. In this thesis, several advances are added to the existing knowledge of developing artificial magnetic materials, in terms of analytical modeling, applications, realization, and experimental characterization. To realize AMMs with miniaturized unit cells, new inclusions based on fractal Hilbert curves are introduced, and analyzed. Analytical models, numerical full wave simulation, and experimental characterization are used to analyze, and study the new structures. A comprehensive comparison is made between the new inclusions, and perviously developed inclusions in terms of electromagnetic properties. The new inclusions have advantages of miniaturization, and less dispersion when compared to the existing structures in the literature. To realize multi-band AMMs, unit cells with multiple inclusions are proposed, designed, and analyzed. The new unit cells can be designed to give the desired magnetic properties either over distinguished multiple frequency bands, or over a single wide frequency band. Numerical full wave simulation is used to verify the proposed concept, and analytical models are provided for design, and optimization of the new unit cells. Unit cells with different configurations are optimized to get a wideband responce for the effective permeability. Space mapping technique is used to provide a link between analytically optimized structures, and full wave numerical simulation results. Two new methods are proposed for experimental characterization of artificial structures using microstrip, and strip line topologies. Using numerical results, the effect of anisotropy on the accuracy of the extracted parameters are investigated, and a fitting solution is proposed, and verified to address this challenge. New structures based on 2nd , and 3rd order fractal Hilbert curves are fabricated, and characterized using microstrip line, and strip line fixtures. Experimental results are presented, and compared with numerical results. The new experimental methods have advantages of lower cost, easier to fabricate and measure, and smaller sample size when compared to the existing methods in the literature. A new application is proposed for use of magnetic materials to develop wide band artificial magnetic conductors (AMC). Analytical models, and numerical analysis is used to validate the concept. A new ultra wideband AMC is designd, and analysed. The designed AMC is used as the ground plane to develop a low profile high gain ultra wide band antenna. The designed antenna is simulated, and its return loss, and gain is presented over a wide range of frequencies. A comprehensive study is presented on the performance of AMMs for the application of miniaturized antennas. A miniaturized antenna, using fractal Hilbert metamaterials as substrate, is fabricated, and measured. Measurement results are presented, and compared with numerical results. A parametric study is presented on the effect of the constitutive parameters of the artificial substrate on the performance of the miniaturized antenna. In this study, the effect of magnetic loss of AMM on the gain, and efficiency of the antenna, as well as the effect of dispersion of AMM on the bandwidth of the antenna is investigated.

<p>This dissertation examines the use of artificial structured materials -- known as metamaterials -- in two antenna applications in which conventional dielectric materials are otherwise used. In the first application, the use of metamaterials to improve the impedance matching of planar phased array antennas over a broad range of scan angles is explored. A phased array antenna is composed of an array of antenna elements and enables long-distance signal propagation by directional radiation. The direction of signal propagation is defined as the scan angle. The power transmission ratio of a phased array is the ratio of the radiated power to the input power, and depends on the scan angle. The variation in the power transmission ratio is due to the different mutual coupling contributions between antenna elements at different scan angles. An optimized stack of dielectric layers, known as a wide-angle impedance matching layer (WAIM), is used to optimize the power transmission ratio profile over a broad range of scan angles. In this work, the use of metamaterials to design anisotropic WAIMs with access to a larger range of constitutive parameters -- including magnetic permeability -- to offer an improved power transmission ratio at a broad range of scan angles is investigated. </p> <p>In the second antenna application, a strategy to create maximally transmissive and minimally reflective electromagnetic radome materials using embedded metamaterial inclusions is introduced. A radome is a covering used to protect an antenna from weather elements or provide structural function such as the prevention of aerodynamic drag. A radome should be made from a fully transparent and non-refractive material so that radiated fields from and to the enclosed antenna are not disrupted. The aim of this research was to demonstrate that embedded metamaterial inclusions can be used to isotropically adjust the dielectric properties of a composite material to a desired value. This strategy may lead to the creation of a structural material with electromagnetic properties close to air, thus reducing the detrimental scattering effects often associated with conventional radome materials.</p> <p>Chapter 1 introduces the concept of metamaterials and discusses the use of subwavelength metallic structures to artificially engineer constitutive parameters such as permeability of permittivity. In Chapter 2, the analytical formulations that enable the characterization of the transmission performance of a planar phased array covered with anisotropic impedance matching layers are developed. Chapter 3 discusses the design rules that must govern the design parameters of anisotropic WAIMs realizable using metamaterials, and also presents examples of anisotropic impedance matching layers that provide a maximum power transmission ratio for most scan angles. In addition, numerical and experimental results on a metamaterial placed over a phased array are presented. In Chapter 4, the feasibility of using metamaterials to realize a minimally transparent and fully transmissive radome material is numerically investigated. In Chapter 5, experimental results that corroborate earlier numerical simulation results are analyzed.</p> / Dissertation

In the past decade, artificial materials have attracted considerable attention as potential solutions to meet the demands of modern microwave technology for simultaneously achieving component minimization and higher performance in mobile communications, medical, and optoelectronics applications. To realize this potential, more research on metamaterials is needed. In this dissertation, new bandpass filter and diplexer as microwave metamaterial applications have been developed. Unlike the conventional complementary split ring (CSRR) filters, coupled lines are used to provide larger coupling capacitance, resulting in better bandpass characteristics with two CSRRs only. The modified bandpass filters are used to deisgn a compact diplexer. A new CSRR antenna fed by coplanar waveguide has also been developed as another metamaterial application. The rectangular shape CSRRs antenna achieves dual band frequency properties without any special matching network. The higher resonant frequency is dominantly determined by the outer slot ring, while the lower resonant frequency is generated by the coupling between two CSRRs. The proposed antenna achieves about 35 percent size reduction, compared with the conventional slot antennas at the low resonant frequencies. As a future alternative energy solution, space solar power transmission and wireless power transmission have received much attention. The design of efficient rectifying antennas called rectennas is very critical in the wireless power transmission system. The conventional method to obtain long distance range and high output power is to use a large antenna array in rectenna design. However, the use of array antennas has several problems: the relatively high loss of the array feed networks, difficultiy in feeding network design, and antenna radiator coupling that degrades rectenna array performance. In this dissertation, to overcome the above problems, a reflectarray is used to build a rectenna system. The spatial feeding method of the reflectarray eliminates the energy loss and design complexity of a feeding network. A high gain rectifying antenna has been developed and located at the focal point of the reflectarray to receive the reflected RF singals and genterate DC power. The technologies are very useful for high power wireless power transmission applications.

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The use of a patterned resistive sheet as an infrared-selective absorber, including the effects of a mechanical support dielectric layer is discussed. Also, modified dielectric coated Salisbury Screen can improve both the wavelength selectivity and the speed of thermal response for microbolometers. These patterned resistive sheets and Modified dielectric coated Salisbury Screen are a modified form of classical Salisbury Screens that utilize a resistive absorber layer placed a quarter-wavelength in front of a mirror. These structures can show a narrower detection bandwidth when compared to conventional microbolometers. For a Modified dielectric coated Salisbury Screen for multi-spectral system, wavelength selectivity can be varied by changing the distance to the mirror, and for patterned resistive sheet, wavelength selectivity can be varied by changing the lithographically drawn parameters of the array. Hence, different pixels in a focal plane array can be designed to produce a “multi-color” infrared imaging system. Also, the thermal mass of microbolometer is reduced using patterned resistive structure. / text

<p>Intense developments in optical metamaterials have led to a renaissance in several optics fields. Metamaterials, artificially structured media, provide several additional degrees of freedom that cannot be accessed with conventional materials. For example, metamaterials offer a convenient and precise way to explore a wide range of refractive indices, including negative values. </p><p>In this dissertation, I introduce the idea of metamaterial based diffractive optics. Merging diffractive optics with metamaterials has several benefits, including access to almost continuous phase profiles and a wide range of available controlled anisotropy. I demonstrate this concept with several examples. I begin with an example of metamaterial based blazed diffraction grating using gradient index metamaterials for <em>f</em>É = 10.6 <em>f</em>Êm. A series of non-resonant metamaterial elements were designed and fabricated to mimic a saw-tooth refractive index profile with a linear index variation of . The linear gradient profile is repeated periodically to form the equivalent of a blazed grating, with the gradient occurring across a spatial distance of 61 <em>f</em>Êm. The index gradient is confirmed by comparing the measured magnitudes of the -1, 0 and +1 diffracted orders to those obtained from full wave simulations. </p><p>In addition to a metamaterial grating, a metamaterial based computer-generated phase hologram was designed by implementing the Gerchberg-Saxton (GS) iterative algorithm to form a 2D phase panel. A three layer metamaterial hologram was fabricated, with the size of 750 <em>f</em>Êm ~ 750 <em>f</em>Êm. Each pixel is comprised of metamaterial elements. This simple demonstration shows the potential for practical applications of metamaterial based diffractive optics.</p><p>The demand for compact and integrated optoelectronic systems increases the urgency for optical components that can simultaneously perform various functions. This dissertation also presents an optical element capable of multiplexing two diffraction patterns for two orthogonal linear polarizations, based on the use of non-resonant metamaterial cross elements. The metamaterial cross elements provide unique building blocks for engineering arbitrary birefringence. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, I present the design and experimental characterization of a polarization multiplexed blazed diffraction grating and a polarization multiplexed computer-generated hologram, for the telecommunication wavelength of <em>f</em>É = 1.55 <em>f</em>Êm. A quantitative study of the polarization multiplexed grating reveals that this approach yields a very large polarization contrast ratio. The results show that metamaterials can form the basis for a versatile and compact platform useful in the design of multi-functional photonic devices. </p><p>The examples I have mentioned only provide a glimpse of the opportunities for metamaterials. I envision more compact optical devices, with greater functionality, being realized with metamaterials.</p> / Dissertation