Hybrid Planar Absorber: Towards a compact absorber

This paper presents the design and realization of a hybrid electromagnetic absorber combining a natural absorbing material, based on epoxy foam loaded with millimetric carbon fibers, and an artificial resonant absorber, based on metamaterial unit cells. Two studies were conducted in parallel, the first was focused on the optimization of a planar multilayer absorber using the genetic algorithm and the gradient of impedance principle, and the second was focused on the design and optimization of a metamaterial to broaden the band of absorption. A significant reduction of the total thickness (by 70%) was obtained for the final hybrid absorber while maintaining the same absorption performance.