Antennas Guest Speaker Seminar: Multiferroic Antennas - Electromagnetic Radiation Mediated by Acoustic Waves

Presenter Dr. Yuanxun Ethan Wang, EE department, UCLA, USA

Abstract

Strain mediated composite multiferroics consisting of laminated piezoelectric and ferromagnetic material exhibits strong magnetoelectric coupling effect that is several orders of magnitude stronger than single phase multiferroic material. The fact that a dynamic magnetic field can be generated with mechanical strain without conductive current is very appealing in many aspects including the potential benefit of high energy efficiency.
In this talk, we will explore dynamic effects in the multiferroic coupling between electromagnetic fields and mechanical fields. In particular, the possibility of creating radiation of electromagnetic waves from bulk acoustic waves resonating in thin film piezoelectric and piezomagnetic material are analyzed and discussed. Full-wave simulations based on finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method are carried out to validate the proposed theory. The study concluded that the dynamic coupling between electromagnetic field and mechanical field in thin film strain mediated multiferroics has great potential for a new class of antennas that are conformal, efficient and broadband.

Biography

Dr. Yuanxun Ethan Wang received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China in 1993, and the M.S. and the Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from University of Texas at Austin, in 1996 and 1999. He became an Assistant Professor with the EE department of UCLA since Nov. 2002 and is now an Associate Professor with the same department. Dr. Wang is a senior member of IEEE and an associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. He has published more than 100 journal and conference papers. His research is in the general area of microwave systems with emphasis on the front-ends including antennas, phased arrays, high performance RF transmitters and receivers. His researches blend digital technologies and concepts into RF design, which often leads to novel antenna and circuit configurations with performances beyond the conventional bound. Dr. Wang is the director of the Digital Microwave Lab and the Center for High Frequency Electronics in the Electrical Engineering Department of UCLA and the leader of antenna thrust in National Science Foundation funded Engineering Research Center – Translational Applications of Nanoscale Multiferroic Systems (TANMS).