Dielectric phase-switched screen

Conventional radar absorbent materials rely on the absorption and conversion into heat of the electromagnetic energy incident upon them. In an alternative approach, the phase-switched screen (PSS) uses a switchable resistive layer to apply binary phase modulation to the reflected signal so that its energy is redistributed into sidebands that lie outside the receiver passband. Here, the characteristics of an alternative type of PSS, whose efficacy depends on periodic changes in the permittivity or permeability of a dielectric layer, are considered. This leads to the concept of the pseudo-multi-layer dielectric PSS, which mimics the performance of a multi-layer absorber but comprises of only a single layer.