Patent for Smart Reflectarray
ECE Professor and Interim Chair Josep Jornet was awarded a patent for “Smart metal-graphene hybrid reflectarray at THz frequencies.”
Abstract Source: USPTO
A hybrid radiating element may comprise a dielectric substrate having a thickness, a top surface and a bottom surface, and an electrically conductive patch disposed on the top surface of the dielectric substrate. The hybrid radiating element may further comprise a graphene stub disposed on the top surface of the dielectric substrate. The graphene stub may be contiguous with, and electrically coupled to, the electrically conductive patch. The hybrid radiating element may further comprise an electrically conductive layer disposed on the bottom surface of the dielectric substrate. An array of hybrid radiating elements may be arranged in a grid pattern of M rows and N columns. A codebook set of biasing voltages may be arranged to drive the radiating elements in the array as a phase transformation matrix, thereby manipulating the reflection of an incoming electromagnetic wave.
