Optically Transparent Metamaterial Absorber Using Inkjet Printing Technology

An optically transparent metamaterial absorber that can be obtained using inkjet printing technology is proposed. In order to make the metamaterial absorber optically transparent, an inkjet printer was used to fabricate a thin conductive loop pattern. The loop pattern had a width of 0.2 mm and was located on the top surface of the metamaterial absorber, and polyethylene terephthalate films were used for fabricating the substrate. An optically transparent conductive indium tin oxide film was introduced in the bottom ground plane. Therefore, the proposed metamaterial absorber was optically transparent. The metamaterial absorber was demonstrated by performing a full-wave electromagnetic simulation and measured in free space. In the simulation, the 90% absorption bandwidth ranged from 26.6 to 28.8 GHz, while the measured 90% absorption bandwidth was 26.8–28.2 GHz. Therefore, it is successfully demonstrated by electromagnetic simulation and measurement results.