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Seminar Title: Artificial and Composite EM Structures: Phenomenology and Characterisation
Speaker: Prof. Alex Schuchinsky, School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Queen’s University of Belfast, UK
Abstract:
Wireless interfaces constitute the critical elements of the modern electronic and communications systems. Tremendous advances in material science and fabrication techniques have paved the way to the new types of electromagnetic structures which dramatically expand functional capabilities of the physical layer of the RF hardware. To realise full potential of the emerging technologies, extensive research is currently carried out across the whole spectrum of passive and active RF components and devices ranging from novel antennas architectures to phenomenology, predictive modelling and characterisation of artificial electromagnetic materials. This talk will provide an overview of the respective research activities at Queen’s University of Belfast, UK. The distinctive features of artificial EM structures and metamaterials will be illustrated by examples of the specific arrangements of planar and stacked periodic array structures, tunable and switchable FSS and metasurfaces and interwoven periodic arrays. In particular, the effects of symmetry, unit cell layout and topology of constitutive element on the properties and functionality of artificial media will be discussed. The nonlinear effects associated with frequency mixing in passive structures, printed circuit boards and interconnects have recently become increasingly acute problems for RF systems. These phenomena strongly affect signal integrity in densely packed assemblies and high power wireless interfaces. The latest developments in linear and nonlinear characterisation of PCB laminates and identification and mitigation of distributed generation of passive intermodulation (PIM) products in printed circuits will be discussed. Alternative applications of the developed concepts and phenomenology to increasing the efficiency of the combinatorial frequency generation in stratified media will be overviewed. The new architecture of the stacked multiple junction ferrite circulators will be outlined. The issues of magnetic bias arrangements, thermal stability and the high power performance will be discussed.
Speaker Bio:
Alex Schuchinsky received a Ph.D. degree in Radiophysics from Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute (U.S.S.R.) and the academic title of senior research scientist in 1983 and 1988, respectively. He was leading scientist at the Microwave Electrodynamics Laboratory of Rostov State University, Russia (1973-1994) and a chief engineer at Deltec-Telesystems, New Zealand (1994-2002). Currently he is with the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the Queen’s University of Belfast, UK. He has authored and co-authored three U.S. patents, four book chapters and over 180 refereed journal and conference papers. He was a recipient of the 2012 V.G. Sologub Award for contributions to the development of analytical regularization methods in computational electromagnetics and a corecipient of the IEEE 2010 Microwave Prize for research in Passive Intermodulation (PIM). He is a fellow of IEEE. His current research interests include physics based modelling of linear and nonlinear phenomena in complex electromagnetic structures, metamaterials and nonreciprocal devices, PIM in distributed circuits, and characterisation of electromagnetic materials. He is a general co-chair of the annual International Congress on Metamaterials and serves on the board of directors of the Virtual Institute for Artificial Electromagnetic Materials and Metamaterials, “Metamorphose VI”.
