Forum for Science, Industry and Business

Photonic crystals to improve microwave circuits

The principal aim of this PhD paper was the application of the new concepts and ideas of Photonic Crystals and Photonic Bandgap (PBG) to microwave and millimetric circuits and, more concretely, to microstrip circuits which is the most common technology in current use in flat microwave circuits.

Thus, for this thesis, the techniques for optimising the functioning of PBG structures in microstrip technology were studied and the various practical applications of these devices were analysed. For example, a number of microwave circuit designs have been presented which have enhanced functions thanks to the introduction of PBG structures (filters, resonators, oscillators). The results obtained have been very satisfactory and have given rise to structures with highly interesting optimised functions.

These filters, resonators and oscillators optimised through the introduction of PBG structures can provide significant improvements to those currently used in satellite communications. These new designs can contribute to the perfecting of communication between earth stations and the satellite without having to increase the complexity of either the part installed in the home or of the satellite and, thus, can enhance the quality of communication without provoking an increase in the cost of the service.

Iñaki Casado Redin | Basque Research
Further information:
http://www.unavarra.es

Im Focus: UNH scientists help provide first-ever views of elusive energy explosion

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have captured a difficult-to-view singular event involving "magnetic reconnection"--the process by which sparse particles and energy around Earth collide producing a quick but mighty explosion--in the Earth's magnetotail, the magnetic environment that trails behind the planet.

Magnetic reconnection has remained a bit of a mystery to scientists. They know it exists and have documented the effects that the energy explosions can...

Im Focus: A Chip with Blood Vessels

Biochips have been developed at TU Wien (Vienna), on which tissue can be produced and examined. This allows supplying the tissue with different substances in a very controlled way.

Cultivating human cells in the Petri dish is not a big challenge today. Producing artificial tissue, however, permeated by fine blood vessels, is a much more...

Im Focus: A Leap Into Quantum Technology

Faster and secure data communication: This is the goal of a new joint project involving physicists from the University of Würzburg. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research funds the project with 14.8 million euro.

In our digital world data security and secure communication are becoming more and more important. Quantum communication is a promising approach to achieve...

Im Focus: Research icebreaker Polarstern begins the Antarctic season

What does it look like below the ice shelf of the calved massive iceberg A68?

On Saturday, 10 November 2018, the research icebreaker Polarstern will leave its homeport of Bremerhaven, bound for Cape Town, South Africa.

Im Focus: Penn engineers develop ultrathin, ultralight 'nanocardboard'

When choosing materials to make something, trade-offs need to be made between a host of properties, such as thickness, stiffness and weight. Depending on the application in question, finding just the right balance is the difference between success and failure

Now, a team of Penn Engineers has demonstrated a new material they call "nanocardboard," an ultrathin equivalent of corrugated paper cardboard. A square...