A Scalable, Dual-Polarized Absorber Surface for Electromagnetic Energy Harvesting and Wireless Power Transfer

We present a dual-polarized electromagnetic (EM) energy-harvesting system that consists of a periodic absorber surface and a full-wave rectifier. The unit cell of the absorber is constructed using concentric bow-tie dipoles and channeling features that make it possible to efficiently combine and transfer the collected power from multiple unit cells. Simulation results are provided together with experimental verification demonstrating the strong absorption characteristics of the proposed energy harvesting surface. Overall radiation-to-DC conversion efficiency of the fabricated prototype was measured to be more than 60% under two perpendicular polarizations. The performance of the structure was further evaluated under various polarization angles and the results demonstrate that the proposed concept can be used to construct a scalable and polarization insensitive energy-harvesting system.