Received August 20, 2021, accepted September 12, 2021, date of publication September 20, 2021,

date of current version September 29, 2021.

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3114255

Surface Wave Attenuation in Multilayer

Structures With Lossy Media and
Impedance Surfaces
VARSHA MISHRA , (Member, IEEE), FILIPPO COSTA , (Senior Member, IEEE),
AND AGOSTINO MONORCHIO , (Fellow, IEEE)
Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, University of Pisa, 56122 Pisa, Italy
Corresponding author: Varsha Mishra (varsha.mishra@ing.unipi.it)

ABSTRACT A methodology to analyze the attenuation constant of surface wave propagating in general
multilayer structures is proposed. The multilayer structure may include any number of layers, that can
be made up of lossy dielectric, magnetic-material, and impedance surfaces. The non-linear characteristic
equation (transverse resonance equation - TRE) that representing multilayer structure is defined by utilizing
transmission line (TL) theory. Consequently, the root(s) of the TRE is/are computed which indicates the
complex propagation constant of that characteristic equation. The obtained results are validated over the
completely shielded waveguide structures where the full-wave simulation is possible. The proposed approach
is employed to analyze and discuss the propagation and attenuation constant of surface wave modes in several
representative examples. The analysis is carried out in the frequency range from 1 to 12 GHz.

INDEX TERMS Attenuation constant, impedance surfaces, lossy media, multilayer structure, propagation
constant, surface waves.

I. INTRODUCTION usually investigated and validated using eigensolver method

Multilayer structures are employed in the design of microstrip
antennas [1], [2], microwave absorbers [3]–[5] or in various
microwave integrated circuits (MICs) operating in the fre-
quency range from 1 to 12 GHz [1], [6]. Performance degra-
dation of MICs is caused mainly due to electromagnetic (EM)
wave coupling. Propagation of surface waves in microwave
structures is often an undesired effect that has been addressed
in previous works [7]–[9].
A technique for blocking surface wave propagation, i.e.
so-called electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) has been consid-
ered as an important solution in microwave applications [10].
The EBG structures introduce a forbidden propagation band
for surface waves [10]–[12]. However, another mechanism
to prevent the propagation of surface waves is to maxi-
mize their dissipation factor. In this case, the eigenmode
solver of commercial software cannot be employed to solve
the EM problem since the propagation constant becomes
a complex quantity. Indeed, structures having lossless sub-
strates (or ignored the effect of small losses) have been
The associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and
approving it for publication was Lei Zhao . layer absorbing material coated with resistive sheet [22], and
[1], [8]–[10], [13], [14]. The effects of losses (e.g., dielectric
loss, magnetic loss, and resistive sheet coatings loss) and
physical parameters variation of the structure have been ana-
lyzed for the application where attenuation constant of the
surface wave is required. Attwood et al. in 1951 have devel-
oped a theory of surface wave propagation in dielectric slab
with low-loss medium [15]. In 1987, Richmond et al. have
analyzed SWMs in ferrite slab and studied their attenuation
properties with respect to the losses and physical parameters
of the slab [16]. Attenuation- and propagation-constant of
surface waves in resistive sheet have also been carried out
by Richmond [17]. Marin et al. in 1990 have developed a
basic theory to classify the proper and improper roots of
surface waves in grounded dielectric slab [18]. Shively et al.
in 1993 have computed possible number of TE and TM
modes by varying resistance of sheet coated over grounded
dielectric slab [19]. A numerical analysis of the surface
waves in the microstrip-based-sensors has been analyzed by
Horsfield et al. in 2000 [20]. Ufimtsev et al. in 2001 stud-
ied SWMs in single-layered radar absorbing material [21].
Chen et al. in 2014 have analyzed the SWMs in the single

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

VOLUME 9, 2021 For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ 130627
 V. Mishra et al.: Surface Wave Attenuation in Multilayer Structures

magnetic material [23]. Although, the analysis was limited

to the transverse magnetic (TM) surface waves. Li et al.
have analyzed the TM SWMs in the single-layered absorbing
material [24]. Most of the structures have been analyzed by
using transmission line (TL) model of multilayer structures
and transverse resonance equation (TRE) which is used to
define a characteristic equation of the equivalent circuit.
In order to compute the root(s) of the characteristic equation
various pole-location methods, such as Newton-Raphson’s
method [16], [17], muller’s method [21], or/and other iterative
techniques [19] have been employed. The critical points or
the range or initial guess are required to these searching
methods for finding the roots of the characteristic equation.
Moreover, most of the methods have been developed for sin-
gle layer low-loss structures [25]–[28]. Complex propagation
constant of SWMs in general multilayer structures have been
computed but with the condition defined as ε00  ε0 [29].
Adding extra losses or resistive element increases the real
part of complex propagation constant (i.e. attenuation), also FIGURE 1. (a) General schematic diagram of multilayer structure, and
(b) transmission line based equivalent network.
shifts the imaginary part of propagation constant from its
original axis. This increases the complexity of the charac-
teristic equation and makes it necessary to search the roots
of lossy media and an impedance layer at the pth location.
in two-dimensional plane. Nowadays, a critical step is to
The impedance surface (e.g., resistive sheet/meta-surface) is
find such methodology that identifies the appropriate range
inserted at the arbitrary interface (shown in green color) of the
or initial guess values to compute the exact complex roots.
multilayer structure for the demonstration purpose. Although,
Moreover, multilayer structures consisting of impedance sur-
arbitrary number of impedance layers can be considered for
faces and lossy materials have received limited attention in
this computation. The structure is stacked up in y-direction
the literature. In this paper, a methodology to compute the
and has infinite extension in x-z direction.
SWMs within arbitrary multilayer structures is proposed and
The transverse resonance equation states that, at any point
some representative examples of multilayer structures are
on the resonant line, the sum of the equivalent impedances
shown to highlight the potentialities of the approach.
seen looking to either side must be zero [1]:
The paper is organized as follows. Section II includes the
D U
theoretical background as well as the proposed methodology. Zeq + Zeq = 0, (1)
The proposed methodology is explained in detail by solving D and Z U are the equivalent input impedances, look-
where Zeq eq
the characteristic equation for a shielded multilayer struc-
ing to the downward and upward from the reference line R,
ture. Further, the obtained results are validated by equivalent D and Z U
respectively, as shown in Fig. 1(a-b). The value of Zeq eq
waveguide setup simulated in Ansys HFSS software. Accu-
can be computed using the transmission line (TL) formula
racy of the proposed methodology is analyzed by computing
[1], [6], as explained in the next paragraph.
the converged function value. In Section III, the complete
As shown in the equivalent of general multilayer struc-
solution of SWMs for three different examples is evaluated in D is an equivalent impedance of parallelly connected
ture, Zeq
both TE and TM modes. Section IV shows the surface wave
impedances Zin and ZS . ZS is only real for resistive sheet,
excitation inside the multilayer structures by using dipole
only imaginary for lossless FSS, and complex for lossy FSS.
antennas. Section V reports the conclusion.
According to the TL theory, expression of the equivalent
impedance (Zin ) looking to the downward up to nth layer can
II. THEORY, PROPOSED METHODOLOGY,
be explained as:
AND VALIDATION
The transmission line (TL) theory and transverse resonance Zn−1 + Zn tanh(γyn hn )
Zin(n) = Zn , (2)
equation (TRE) method (TL-TRM) is employed for comput- Zn + Zn−1 tanh(γyn hn )
ing the complex propagation constant of multilayered struc- where n is the number of layers (n = 1, 2, 3, . . . , P), Zn is
tures. The derived solutions are validated by analyzing some the wave impedance, and hn is the thickness of the medium
specific structures within waveguides for that the commercial of nth layer. At n = 1, the impedance Zn−1 (i.e. equal to Z0 ) is
electromagnetic simulations provided accurate results. the load impedance which can be equivalent to the impedance
of air or ground plane. The propagation constant in both TE
A. CHARACTERISTIC EQUATION and TM modes can be expressed as:
The general schematic diagram of multilayer structure is q
presented in Fig. 1(a). The structure consists of N number γyn = γn2 − γz2 , (3)

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V. Mishra et al.: Surface Wave Attenuation in Multilayer Structures
where γz = αz + ιβz , its real and imaginary parts are defined
as attenuation (αz ) and propagation constants (βz ) of induced
surface waves, respectively. γn is the complex propagation
√
constant of the nth layer, γn = ω µn εn , where ω is the
radian frequency, µn = µ0 (µ0n − ιµ00n ) = µ0 µ0n (1 − ιtanδm )
is the complex permeability, and εn = ε0 (εn0 − ιεn00 ) =
ε0 εn0 (1−ιtanδe ) is the complex permittivity of the nth medium.
tanδe and tanδm are defined as dielectric and magnetic loss
tangents, respectively. Moreover, the expression of wave
impedance in TE and TM modes are defined as:
ωµn γyn
ZTE = ; ZTM = . (4)
γyn ωεn
Once computed the equivalent impedance ZS , such as
lossy resistive layer or FSS/meta-material [30], [31] [3], [32],
D can be calculated as:
the Zeq
ZS ∗ Zin(n)
D
Zeq = , (5)
ZS + Zin(n)
U can also be computed using TL theory.
Similarly, Zeq
D and Z U , into Eq. (1), gives
Combining the expression of Zeq eq
a nonlinear equation with a variable of γz = αz + ιβz .
Computation of this variable which has complex quantity
(also known as root(s)) is required two-dimensional searching
method. A detailed discussion of this methodology and its
validation is carried out in the following section.
FIGURE 2. Example #1: shielded multilayer structure: (a) its schematic
model and transmission line based equivalent circuit.
(b) Three-dimensional view of partially filled waveguide, simulated in
X-band by using Ansys HFSS software.
B. ROOT FINDING
The approach for finding the root(s) of a characteristic equa-
tion is described by using a setup, named as Example #1. The
setup is a multilayer structure shielded on top and bottom
with PEC (perfect electric conductor), partially filled with
the lossy magneto-dielectric material and air in the remaining
part, as shown in Fig. 2(a). The structure is useful for veri-
fying the correctness of the proposed approach, because the
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waveguide structure can also be analyzed by a commercial
simulator such as Ansys HFSS. For such shielded struc-
ture, HFSS provides the complex propagation constant which
can be compared with the results obtained by the analytical
approach. The real part permittivity and permeability of the
partially filled material are ε1 = 3, and µ1 = 2, respectively.
The overall height of the structure is d = 10.16 mm and
thickness of the material is h1 = 1.5 mm. The structure has
infinite direction in x-z plane. The step by step procedure to
compute the SWMs of this example are as follows:
1) The schematic and equivalent circuits of the
Example #1 are shown in Fig. 2(a). The characteristic
equation applied to the equivalent circuit along the ref-
erence line (R) is presented as Eq. (8). The expression
D and Z U are analyzed by using TL formula [See,
of Zeq
eq
Eq. (2)], and expressed as:
U
Zeq = Zair tanh(γy0 (d − h1 )), (6)
D
Zeq = Z1 tanh(γy1 h1 ). (7)
Substituting Eq. (6) and Eq. (7) into Eq. (1), the char-
acteristic equation can be obtained as:
FTMmode ⇒ Zair tanh(γy0 (d − h1 ))
+ Z1 tanh(γy1 h1 ) = 0, (8)
where
γy0 γy1
Zair = ; Z1 = , and (9)
ωε0 ωε0 ε1
q q
γy0 = γ02 − γz2 ; γy1 = γ12 − γz2 , (10)
√
where γ0 = ω µ0 ε0 is propagation constant in air
medium. Propagation constant with medium of com-
plex permittivity (ε1 ) and permeability (µ1 ) is γ1 =
√
ω µ1 ε1 . Using the proposed approach, the value of
converged function (FTMmode ) and corresponding prop-
agation constant (γz ) are analyzed by considering both
lossy and lossless medium at the TM0 mode in the
X-band, i.e. (f ) = 8−12 GHz [See, Table 1].
2) Assuming, both tanδe & tanδm being zero, the value
of γz will be positive and real, i.e. γz = βz (Lossless) .
For the SWMs, limit of the propagation constant is
√
k0 ≤ βz (Lossless) ≤ ε1 µ1 k0 . For the given value
of ε1 , µ1 , and thickness (h1 ), the value of βz (Lossless)
can be accurately computed only if FTMmode is ide-
ally equals to zero. For that, so-called one-dimensional
search is carried out to find βz (Lossless) at 10 GHz,
as shown in Fig. 3 (a). The step size of βz (Lossless)
is 1k0 . The smaller is value of 1k0 , the higher will
be the computational time as well as precision. For the
Case 1, value 1k0 is assumed as 1e-6. On this value
of 1k0 , function value is converged in the range from
1e-4 to 1e-6, as shown in Table 1. This obtained value
of function (FTMmode ) is acceptable considering the
sufficient accuracy measure for our computation. For
this case, the average computational time for this basic
example is 0.09 seconds. The analysis is carried out
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 V. Mishra et al.: Surface Wave Attenuation in Multilayer Structures

FIGURE 3. Representation of FTMmode which is converged within defined range of βz(Lossless) for lossless medium, i.e. (a) Case 1:
tanδe = tanδm = 0.0 at frequency 10 GHz (converged function value is shown by symbol ). FTMmode is normalized with its
maximum value and named as ‘Norm. F’. The convergence of Norm. F is shown with color scaling in two-dimensional or αz − βz
plane in lossy media, i.e. (b) Case 2: tanδe = 0.1, (c) Case 3: tanδm = 0.0, and (d) Case 4: tanδe = tanδm = 0.1 of Example #1 at
frequency 10 GHz.

TABLE 1. Complex propagation constant and function value of ‘Example #1: shielded multilayer structure with ε1 = 3, µ1 = 2, h1 = 1.5 mm,
d = 10.16 mm’ in the frequency range from 8 to 12 GHz.

TABLE 2. Complex propagation constant and function value of ‘Example #2: resistively coated-shielded multilayer structure with ε1 = 4, µ1 = 1,
h1 = 1.5 mm, d = 10.16 mm’ in the frequency range from 8 to 12 GHz.

by using MATLAB 2019b with Computer specifica-
tion: Intel Core processor i7-1165G7 1.2-2.8 GHz with
16 GB RAM. Further, a increasing trend in the value
of βz (Lossless) can be seen with increasing of frequency
from 8 to 12 GHz, that represents decreasing velocity
of surface waves at higher frequency.
3) In the third step, the values of tanδe or/and tanδm is/are
considered as non-zero. In this case, at the given param-
eter of structure, the value of both αz and βz must satisfy
Eq. (8) in such a way that FTMmode converged to zero.
For this, complex root(s) are searched in αz − βz plane.
For searching the root(s) in two-dimensional plane the
range of αz & βz are decided as follows:
Limit 1 : −1αz /2 ≤ αz ≤ 1αz /2,
where 1αz = W1 k0 ,
Limit 2 := [βz(Lossless) − 1βz /2]
≤ βz ≤ [βz(Lossless) + 1βz /2],
where 1βz = W2 βz(Lossless) ,
The value of βz (Lossless) is already obtained in the pre-
vious step. The upper and lower limits of αz & βz
are dependent on the weightages W1 and W2 , respec-
tively. The weightages can be tuned, in order to achieve
the convergence of FTMmode which should be ideally
equal to zero. The converged value of the charac-
teristic equation indicates the accuracy of the com-
puted root. Therefore, both converged function value
and respective complex propagation constant are com-
puted and summarized in Table 1. In Example #1,
for the non-zero dielectric-, and magnetic-losses, i.e.
Case 2, 3, & 4, the roots are computed by tuning the
value of W1 & W2 . In case 2, for tanδe = 0.1, weigh-
tages W1 = W2 = 0.05. In this case, FTMmode is mini-
(11)
mized up to the order of 1e-3. In case 3 and 4 losses
(12) are increased, hence weightage W1 & W2 are tuned to
0.05 and 0.15, respectively, and FTMmode is minimized
(13) up to the order of 1e-2. It is evident that tuning ability of
(14) limits 1 & 2 [Eq. (11) & (13)] provides dynamic area

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V. Mishra et al.: Surface Wave Attenuation in Multilayer Structures
of αz − βz plane [See, Fig. 3(b-d)]. Value of W1 and
W2 are tuned according to the losses present into the
media, and searching area is being changed precisely.
This implied that the SWMs are computed with effi-
ciently chosen area. Hence, efficiency is improved in
comparison to the conventional methods.
The aforementioned procedure of computing the complex
root(s) is summarized as follows:
1) Assume electrical properties of the structure are loss-
less (i.e. tanδe = tanδm = 0) and perform one
dimensional search√to find βz(lossless) , in the range from
k0 ≤ βz(lossless) ≤ max(εn µn )k0 .
2) Consider the losses and define the range of αz & βz as
defined in Eq. (11) and Eq. (13).
3) If the function value (e.g. FTMmode ) is converged in the
defined range of W1 & W2 , at the indicated limit of
accuracy (e.g. FTMmode ≤ 1e − 1). Otherwise, increase
the value of W1 & W2 , and repeat the step itself.
FIGURE 4. Comparison between (a) attenuation constants, and
(b) propagation constants, obtained from our method [Eq. (8)] and
full-wave simulation for the TM0 mode at the operating frequency (f )
of 10 GHz, where electrical and physical properties of partially filled
material are ε1 = 3, µ1 = 2, and thickness (h1 ) = 1.5 mm (See, Fig. 2).
A further validation of the methodology has been carried out
with a specific example where the computation of the com-
plex propagation constant is possible by using HFSS. Indeed,
analyzing shielded waveguide structures, HFSS provides the
complex propagation constant of the guiding structure. This
is possible only for cases where two ports can be defined
whereas it is not possible for open structures where the ports
cannot be defined. Indeed, the HFSS analysis with periodic
boundary conditions does not allow to compute the complex
propagation constants in case of lossy structures but it only
estimates the real part of propagation constant nullifying
the losses of the materials. For this reason, we verified the
correctness of our approach for this simple structure which
can be analyzed with HFSS even in presence of lossy sub-
strate. However, this validation is extremely important since
it ensures us that all the formulas are implemented correctly.
The analyses of structures of the other examples is carried
out by following a similar procedure and they are just an
extension of the application of the method previously verified
in the point one. We also have to stress that a verification on
the calculation of complex propagation constant is not pre-
sented in previous papers which just provide the computation
VOLUME 9, 2021
FIGURE 5. (a) Schematic and equivalent circuit of resistively coated
shielded multilayer structure (ε1 = 4, µ1 = 1, h1 = 1.5 mm). Comparison
between our method [i.e., Eq. (18)] and full-wave simulation at the first
mode of (b) attenuation and (c) propagation constant by varying the
impedance from 200 to 1000 /Sq and frequency from 8.2 to 12.4 GHz.
methodology based on the solution of TRE. Validation of
aforementioned methodology is employed using full-wave
simulation software. A partially filled X-band waveguide of
dimension L × W × d (100 mm × 22.86 mm × 10.16 mm) is
designed, schematic diagram is shown in Fig. 2(b). EM wave
is excited by applying wave port at z = 0 and z = 100 mm.
PMC boundary is applied at both x = 0 and x = 22.86 mm
plane. PEC boundary at both y = 0 and y = 10.16 mm plane.
The electrical properties of partially filled material are ε1 = 3
and µ1 = 2 and thickness is h1 = 1.5 mm.
Comparison between our method [Eq. (8)] and full-wave
simulation is shown in Fig. 4(a)-(b). Fig. 4(a) shows the
contour of attenuation constants by varying the tangential
losses tanδe and tanδm from 0.1 to 1, respectively at the TM0
mode. Similarly, Fig. 4(b) shows the contour of propagation
constants at the TM0 mode. Moreover, at a fixed frequency,
increasing the dielectric and/or magnetic losses in the mate-
rial, increases the attenuation constant. Whereas, decreasing
of propagation constant occurs as increasing the dielectric
and/or magnetic losses as shown in Fig. 4(b).
An additional setup named as Example #2 is used for fur-
ther validation. The setup is a stack up of dielectric layer fol-
lowed by thin resistive sheet, followed by air is the remaining
part. The structure is shielded on top and bottom with PEC.
Schematic of resistively coated shielded multilayer structure,
and validation of the methodology using the waveguide setup
is shown in Fig. 5 (a-c). Both schematic model and equivalent
circuit of the structure are represented in Fig. 5 (a). According
to the methodology described in section II-A, mathematical
formula for this structure can be defined as:
U
Zeq = Zair tanh(γy0 (d − h1 )), (15)
Zin = Z1 tanh(γy1 h1 ), (16)
D
Zeq = Zin //Rs, (17)
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From Eq. (1),
Zair tanh(γy0 (d − h1 )) + [Zin //Rs] = 0, (18)
where Rs is the impedance of resistive sheet in /Sq.
Fig. 5 (b) shows contour of attenuation constants with respect
to resistive impedance and frequency, respectively. Similarly,
contour of propagation constant is plotted in Fig. 5 (c). The
impedance of resistive sheet is varying from 200 /Sq to
1000 /Sq, and the frequency is varied from 8.2 to 12.4 GHz.
The partially filled material having ε1 = 4 and µ1 = 1. It is
observed that increasing the resistance of the sheet, increases
attenuation of the EM wave. It is evident from the results of
both type of setup [i.e., Fig. 4 (a) & (b) and 5 (c) & (d)]
that comparison of the proposed methodology with full-wave
simulation is pretty good and the implementation of this
methodology is also quite easy. The propagation constant and
its corresponding converged function value at Rs = 400 /Sq
are summarized in Table 2. Roots corresponds to the Eq. (18)
are obtained with good accuracy as function value is con-
verged up to 1e-4 and 1e-2 for lossless and lossy impedance
media, respectively.
III. NUMERICAL EXAMPLES AND DISCUSSION
In this section, the proposed methodology (as described in
Section II-B) is employed to analyze three different repre-
sentative examples, namely Example #3, Example #4, and
Example #5. The Example #3 is a single layer lossy dielectric
slab with air on top. This kind of structure is often ana-
lyzed also in other papers [26]–[28] but with comparatively
lower loss scenario. This example can be considered as the
natural evolution of the previous example, i.e. Example #1,
where ground plane was placed on top. Example #4 is a
multilayer structure comprising two dense dielectric layers
separated by an air-filled medium. This structure is interest-
ing since it is typically employed in the design of antenna
radomes and also for the construction of fiberglass ships
[33], [34]. The Example #5 is represented by a resistive
coated grounded dielectric substrate, which is typically
employed for designing Salisbury absorbers [28], [35], [36].
This structure provides higher attenuation of surface waves
than the uncovered lossy dielectric. The accuracy and rapidity
of computed SWMs by using proposed methodology are
analyzed. SWMs of these structures are computed in both
TM and TE modes, in the frequency range from 1 to 12 GHz,
by using an automatic system developed from the methodol-
ogy described in Section II-B.
A. EXAMPLE #3: OPEN-ENDED SINGLE
LAYER STRUCTURE
The electrical parameters of the single layer homogeneous
medium are as follows: ε1 = 2.5-ι0.06, µ1 = 1, and h1 =
23 mm. The schematic of the structure is shown in the inset
of Fig. 6. The characteristic equations corresponding to the
considered problems are explained in Appendix-A-A [See,
Eq. (20)]. The propagation constants (roots) and converged
function values are computed at 10 GHz, as shown in Table 3.
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V. Mishra et al.: Surface Wave Attenuation in Multilayer Structures
The function of lossless medium and lossy medium
(ε100 = 0.06) are converging up to the minimum value of 2.1e-4
and 4.9e-3, respectively at 10 GHz [See, Table 3]. The
weightages in this computation are considered as W1 = 0.05,
W2 = 0.05.
Moreover, surface wave propagation and attenuation con-
stant of both TM and TE types are easily extracted in sin-
gle iteration using the automatized system based on the
steps explained in Section II-B. The normalized propaga-
tion constant (βz /k0 ) of the lossless structures are shown
in Fig. 6(a). After adding the losses (ε100 = 0.06) to the
medium, the attenuation and normalized propagation con-
stants are plotted in Fig. 6(b) and (c), respectively. The total
number of modes is unchanged after adding the losses in the
structure. The attenuation constant increases linearly up to
5 m−1 as frequency increases up to 12.0 GHz for both the TE
and TM modes. Whereas amplitude of propagation constant
is not much affected in comparison to the lossless structure
[See, Fig. 6(a) & Table 3].
B. EXAMPLE #4: MULTILAYER STRUCTURE
Attenuation and propagation constants of a multilayer struc-
ture consisting of three layers are analyzed. The schematic
of the structure is shown in the inset of Fig. 7. The electrical
parameters of the constituting layers are as follows: layer 1,
and layer 3: ε1 = ε3 = 4.4-ι0.08, µ1 = µ3 = 1, and
h1 = h3 = 2.7 mm; layer 2: ε2 = 1.05-ι0.002, µ2 = 1, and
h2 = 17 mm, loaded over grounded plane. The considered
structure is solved using the Eq. (21) (See, Appendix-A-A).
Firstly, we focus on the structures as lossless media, if any,
depending on the physical and electrical parameters. It is
evident that introducing the lighter medium into the core,
reduced the amplitude of βz /k0 in TM modes [See, Fig. 7(a)].
This multilayer structure would be preferred over single-layer
homogeneous structure (Example #3) for the microwave
devices (like radar-antenna) operating in the frequency range
from 1 to 12 GHz. The complex propagation constants (roots)
and converged function values are computed at 10 GHz,
as shown in Table 4. FML−TE/TM is converging up to the
minimum value of 1.1e-3, as shown in Table 4.
Moreover, adding the losses (ε100 = ε300 = 0.08,
ε2 = 0.002) to the multilayer structure is also analyzed in
00
the frequency range from 1 to 12 GHz in both TM and TE
modes [See, Fig. 7(b) and (c)]. The SWMs in these kinds
of structures are closely spaced in comparison to the single-
layer homogeneous medium. For example, propagation con-
stants (βz ) at 10 GHz in TM0 and TM1 of multilayer medium
are 211.0651 and 250.8675, respectively [See, Table 4].
Computation of such closely spaced roots is very critical,
as the chances of missing one or the other modes increases.
However, by using proposed methodology, the roots are com-
puted with good accuracy. The searching area is selected with
the weightages W1 and W2 , 0.01 and 0.05, respectively. For
this structure, FML−TE/TM is converging up to the minimum
value of 1.2e-2 at 10 GHz [See, Table 4].
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V. Mishra et al.: Surface Wave Attenuation in Multilayer Structures

FIGURE 6. (a) Normalized propagation constant (βz /k0 ) of a single layer lossless grounded plane in both TE and
TM mode. (b) Attenuation, and (c) Normalized propagation constant in both TE and TM modes of a single layer lossy
structure. (schematic of the structures are given as inset picture).

FIGURE 7. (a) Normalized propagation constant (βz /k0 ) of a multilayer layer lossless grounded plane in both TE and
TM mode. (b) Attenuation (c) normalized propagation constant (βz /k0 ) in both TE and TM modes of a multi layer
lossy structure. (schematic of the structures are given as inset picture).

TABLE 3. Complex propagation constant and function value of
‘Example #3: open ended single layer medium’ at 10 GHz.
TABLE 4. Complex propagation constant and function value of
‘Example #4: open ended multilayer medium’ at 10 GHz.
C. EXAMPLE #5: GROUNDED DIELECTRIC SLAB
COATED WITH RESISTIVE SHEET
The structures comprising of infinitely thin resistive sheet
coating have been studied as a prominent EM absorber. More-
over, in order to provide higher attenuation to the SWMs,
coating of the infinitely thin resistive over a substrate medium
can also be a better alternative solution. Therefore, infinitely
thin resistive sheet coated over grounded dielectric slab of
ε1 = 2.5, µ1 = 1, and h1 = 23 mm (lossless case of
Example #3) is considered as Example #5. The character-
istic equation corresponds to the structure is defined in
Appendix-A-B.
The function value (FRS−TE/TM ), propagation-, and
attenuation-constant of the considered example are computed
by varying the resistance from 300 to 900 /Sq at a fre-
quency 10 GHz, as shown in Table 5. The schematic of
considered example is shown in the inset of Fig. 8. The higher
attenuation to the surface waves is computed as 26.15 m−1 ,
its FRS−TE/TM is converging up to 2.4e-1 [See, Table 5].
Moreover, it is observed that at the particular frequency,
the amplitude of attenuation is decreasing with an increase
in Rs from 300 to 900 /Sq. This is obvious because of
the fact that the structure becomes lossless when Rs tends to
infinity [17].
Both TE and TM SWMs are plotted at surface impedance
of Rs = 300 /Sq in the frequency range from 1-12 GHz. The
obtained attenuation and normalized propagation constants
are plotted in Fig. 8(a) and (b), respectively. It is evident that
the number of modes obtained in this structure [See, Fig. 8(b)]
is similar to the structure without coating of resistive sheet
[See, Fig. 6(a)]. However, the attenuation is increased drasti-
cally for all the modes. Moreover, in TM0 mode, at a fixed
value of Rs, as the frequency is increased, attenuation is
initially increased then decreased. Whereas, in TE1 mode,
attenuation is decreasing with increase in frequency. At fixed
value of Rs and frequency, the attenuation value of TE1 mode
is observed greater than TM0 mode.

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TABLE 5. Complex propagation constants and function value of ‘Example #5: open ended grounded dielectric substrate coated with resistive sheet’ at
10 GHz.
FIGURE 8. Infinitely thin resistive sheet of surface impedance
Rs = 300 /Sq coated over grounded single layer material (ε1 = 2.5-ι0.06,
µ1 = 1, and h1 = 23 mm), its (a) attenuation and (b) normalized
propagation constant in both TE and TM modes.
D. DISCUSSION
By implementing the proposed methodology over represen-
tative examples, few important observations are made which
are discussed as follows. The proposed methodology has
dealt with SWMs in complex multilayer structures which
include higher dielectric, magnetic losses, and resistive lay-
ers. By tuning the W1 and W2 , a precise area of αz − βz plane
is being used. Consequently, the function of Example #1,
i.e. FTMmode [See, Eq. (8)] achieved minimum convergence
up to 1e-6 in case of lossless and 1e-2 in case of lossy
media where both dielectric and magnetic losses are added,
i.e. Case 4. The proposed approach is successfully validated
with an additional example, i.e. resistively coated shielded
multilayer structure (Example # 2). In Example # 3, which is a
conventional grounded dielectric slab, minimum convergence
is achieved up to 1e-3 in case of lossless, and 1e-2 while
including lossy dielectric media. Example # 4 is a multilayer
structure with dielectric contrast layer in the middle. The tun-
ing ability of W1 and W2 helped to compute the closely spaced
root(s) with good precision [See, Table 3]. Example # 5 is a
grounded dielectric slab with resistive sheet. The structure
is analyzed with higher amount of losses introduced to the
surface waves, by adding resistive sheet of impedance var-
ied from 300 to 900 /Sq. The function equivalent to the
structure [i.e. Eq. (22)] is computed with converged value up
to 1e-1. The minimum converged function value is directly
proportional to the maximum accuracy of the roots. Hence,
the minimum accuracy achieved among representative exam-
ples is 1e-1. The required CPU time to compute the root(s)
of the characteristic equation correspond to all the consid-
ered examples is computed. Time required by both methods
(i.e., our method and full-wave) is summarized in Table 6. It is
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V. Mishra et al.: Surface Wave Attenuation in Multilayer Structures
TABLE 6. Required CPU time in computing the root(s) of characteristic
equation correspond to all the considered examples.
evident that roots computed by full-wave are taking a little
lesser time than our method but it has limitation of computing
the SWMs over some of the important structures as shown
in Table 6. In both cases, roots are computed in fractions
of seconds with good accuracy.
IV. SURFACE WAVE EXCITATION AND VISUALIZATION
In order to better visualize the propagation of surface waves
inside a dielectric structure, a couple of dipole antennas are
placed inside a lossy medium and simulated by Ansys HFSS.
The antennas are situated at the distance of Gap = 10D2 /λ0
(i.e. five times of far-field distance), as the surface wave cou-
pling dominates at greater distance [9]. Herein, D indicates
the length of dipole antenna, and λ0 indicates correspond-
ing operating wavelength. Both the dipole antennas with
similar physical dimensions are matched at the frequency
of 10 GHz. The dimension of the lossy medium in X −, Y −,
and Z −coordinates are 5λ0 , h1 , and Gap + 5λ0 , respectively.
This kind of setup is simulated using Ansys HFSS software
for both horizontal and vertical polarized antennas as shown
in Fig. 9(a,b) and (c,d), respectively. The permittivity, per-
meability, and thickness of the material are ε1 = 2.5-ι0.06,
µ1 = 1, and h1 = 23 mm, respectively. Consequently, the
S-parameters (i.e., S11 , S12 , S21 , &S22 ) from this setup are
computed in the presence and absence of the losses (tanδe ) for
the frequency band 8−12 GHz (X-band), respectively. Since
antennas are not matched over the whole frequency band,
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V. Mishra et al.: Surface Wave Attenuation in Multilayer Structures
FIGURE 9. Side view of E-field distribution at 10 GHz, in open-ended
grounded dielectric slab (Example #3: ε1 = 2.5-ι0.06, µ1 = 1, and
h1 = 23 mm) with (a) Lossless medium, and (b) Lossy medium excited by
horizontally polarized antenna (TM mode); (c) lossless medium, and
(d) lossy medium excited by vertically polarized antenna (TE mode).
FIGURE 10. Comparison of (a) simulated results of SCM S21 at
tanδe = 0.0 and tanδe = 0.024, and (b) frequency dependent attenuation
constants obtained from ‘‘Our method’’ and from ‘‘Full-wave’’ in both TE
and TM modes.
we used simultaneously conjugate match (SCM) technique
to obtain the S-parameters with the input port matched over
the whole analyzed frequency range [33]. The matched trans-
mission coefficient (S21 ) in presence and absence of losses
(tanδe ) for both the polarizations are plotted in Fig. 10(a).
By adding the loss of tanδe = 0.024, the value of S21 is
reduced for the whole frequency band. A similar effect can be
observed in both horizontally and vertically polarized anten-
nas, which is obvious that transmission coefficient reduces
by adding the losses into the medium [1]. Further, attenuation
due to the lossy medium is computed using Eq. (19):
 
1 S21(tanδ=0.024)
α=− ln , (19)
Gap S21(tanδ=0)
where Gap is the distance between the two antennas and S21
is the transmission coefficient. The obtained attenuation is
varying between 4 to 6 (m−1 ) with respect to the frequency
varying from 8 to 12 GHz. Further, comparison between
the attenuation constants obtained from TL-TRM technique
[See Fig. 6(a)], and full-wave simulation is also depicted
in Fig. 10(b). One can observe that attenuation in both the
cases is lying in a similar range, the difference may occur due
VOLUME 9, 2021
to other phenomena such as fields radiated in other directions.
Surface waves coupling can be visualized and understood
from the E-field distribution, as shown in Fig. 9(a-d) for
vertical and horizontal polarizations, respectively.
V. CONCLUSION
A methodology is proposed to analyze the attenuation of mul-
tilayer structures consisting of lossy media and impedance
surfaces. Computation of the SWMs with TL-TRM method is
validated with specific examples of the competently shielded
waveguide structures. Further, accuracy of the proposed
methodology is analyzed by computing the converged func-
tion value. Moreover, SWMs along with their converged
function values are computed in three different open-ended
multilayer structures. The CPU time required to extract the
root is also evaluated to show the rapidity of the proposed
methodology. It is evident that dynamic behavior of the
αz − βz plane is helpful in improving the accuracy and rapid-
ity of the proposed methodology. Finally, surface waves in
one of these materials have been induced from dipole antenna
stated in horizontal and vertical polarization. For this, a setup
is made in the Ansys HFSS software. Attenuation obtained
in the coupling of two antennas is compared with the result
obtained from the proposed methodology. E-field induced in
the coupling has also been shown inside the material. The
obtained results are quite satisfactorily matching with the
proposed methodology.
APPENDIX A
CHARACTERISTIC EQUATIONS
Characteristic equations for the considered examples are
explained below in details.
A. CHARACTERISTIC EQUATION FOR EXAMPLE #3 & #4
Characteristic equation for homogeneous grounded dielectric
slab surrounded by air on top (Example #3) in TM and TE
modes can be expressed using Eq. (1) & (2):
FSL−TE/TM ⇒ Z1−TE/TM tanh(γy1 (h1 ))
+ Zair−TE/TM = 0, (20)
where value of n is 1, that represents the number of layers
of the structure [See, Fig. 1]. The parameter γy1 can be
computed from Eq. (3). Z1−TE/TM and Zair−TE/TM are the
wave impedance and can be obtained from Eq. (4).
The characteristics equation for the grounded multilayer
structure with air on top (Example #4) is expressed as follows:
FML−TE/TM ⇒ Zin3−TE/TM + Zair−TE/TM = 0, (21)
where Zin3−TE/TM is the equivalent impedance of three layers.
The impedance can be computed from Eq. (2) knowing that
n = 3.
B. CHARACTERISTIC EQUATION FOR EXAMPLE #5
Characteristic equation of the Example #5 is expressed
by defining the reference line between resistive sheet and
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grounded dielectric medium. The downward impedance (Zeq D)
is an equivalent impedance of the grounded dielectric slab.
U ) is an equivalent impedance
The upward impedance (Zeq
of parallelly connected impedances Rs and Zair−TE/TM
[See, Eq. (4)]. The characteristic equation for this structure
D and Z U
can be defined by putting analyzed expression of Zeq eq
into Eq. (1) as:
FRS−TE/TM ⇒ Z1−TE/TM tanh(γy1 (h1 ))
Rs ∗ Zair−TE/TM
+ = 0. (22)
Rs + Zair−TE/TM
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VARSHA MISHRA (Member, IEEE) received
the B.E. degree in electronics engineering from
Madhav Institute of Technology & Science
(MITS), Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India, in 2010,
the M.Tech. degree in microwave and optical
communication from Delhi Technological Univer-
sity (DTU), Delhi, India, in 2013, and the Ph.D.
degree in RF and microwave engineering from IIT
Roorkee, Roorkee, India, in 2019. She is currently
working as a Research Associate with the Univer-
sity of Pisa, Pisa, Italy, under a sponsored project related to the development
of meta-surfaces for ICT solutions. Her current research interests include
developing the electromagnetic techniques for the absorbing materials and
their applications.
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V. Mishra et al.: Surface Wave Attenuation in Multilayer Structures
FILIPPO COSTA (Senior Member, IEEE)
received the M.Sc. degree in telecommunication
engineering and the Ph.D. degree in applied elec-
tromagnetism from the University of Pisa, Pisa,
Italy, in 2006 and 2010, respectively. In 2009,
he was a Visiting Researcher with the Department
of Radio Science and Engineering, Aalto Univer-
sity, Espoo, Finland. From 2015 to 2017, he was
a Short-Term Visiting Researcher with Grenoble
Institute of Technology, Valance, France, and Uni-
versitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain. He is currently with the University
of Pisa. His current research interests include metamaterials, metasurfaces,
antennas, and radio frequency identification. He was a recipient of the Young
Scientist Award of URSI International Symposium on Electromagnetic
Theory, URSI General Assembly, and URSI AT-RASC, in 2013, 2014, and
2015, respectively. He was selected among the outstanding reviewers of the
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, from 2015 to 2020, and
the IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, from 2017 to 2018.
He also serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE SENSORS LETTERS, Sensors,
and Electronics.
VOLUME 9, 2021
AGOSTINO MONORCHIO (Fellow, IEEE) is
currently a Full Professor with the University of
Pisa. He spent several research periods at the
Electromagnetic Communication Laboratory, The
Pennsylvania State University, USA, as a recipient
of a scholarship (Fellowship Award) of the Summa
Foundation, NM, USA, and in the framework of
CNR-NATO Senior Fellowship program. He has
carried out a considerable research activity and
technical consultancy to national, EU, and U.S.
industries, coordinating as a principal scientific investigator, a large number
of national and European research projects. He is also active in a number of
areas, including computational electromagnetics, microwave metamaterials,
radio propagation for wireless systems, the design and miniaturization of
antennas and electromagnetic compatibility, biomedical microwaves appli-
cations. The activity is mainly carried out at the Microwave and Radiation
Laboratory (www.mrlab.it), Department of Information Engineering, Uni-
versity of Pisa, together with a large group of Ph.D. students, postdocs, and
research associates. His research results have been published in more than
130 journal articles and book chapters, and more than 200 communications
at international and national conferences. He is the coauthor of four patents.
He is a member of RaSS National Laboratory, Consorzio Nazionale Interuni-
versitario per le Telecomunicazioni (CNIT). In 2012, he was elevated to
fellow grade by IEEE for his contributions to computational electromagnet-
ics and for application of frequency selective surfaces in metamaterials. He
has been an AdCom member of IEEE APS from 2017 to 2019. In 2010,
he was affiliated with Pisa Section of INFN (National Institute of Nuclear
Physics). He is also the Co-Chair of the Industrial Initiative Committee of
IEEE APS. He also serves as a reviewer for international journals. He was
an Associate Editor of IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS,
from 2002 to 2007.
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