Visible Transparent Wideband Microwave Meta‐Absorber with Designable Digital Infrared Camouflage

Abstract

Stealth performance plays an increasingly important role in the evaluation of aircraft performance, while achieving excellent stealth performance in multiple frequency bands simultaneously remains a crucial challenge. Herein, a visible transparent wideband microwave absorber with infrared camouflage function is theoretically presented and experimentally demonstrated. The sample is composed of two radar absorption layers (RALs) and an infrared shielding layer (IRSL). In addition, the magnetic resonance model and the ohmic loss model are employed to strengthen the absorption of the designed RALs >90% in a broadband frequency range of 7–23 GHz with a relative bandwidth of 106.7%, and an average visible transmittance of ≈60%. Furthermore, IRSL is achieved by a designable digital frequency selective surface (FSS), which promotes a compatible design between infrared camouflaged emissivity and microwave absorption. These peculiar properties not only verify the feasibility of the proposed strategy for achieving suitable artificially designed IR digital camouflage patterns to meet various thermal camouflage environments, but also have promising application prospects in multispectral stealth. The additional visible light transparent feature makes it useful in compatible camouflage‐stealth facilities when requiring observing and operating in optical windows.