Reconfigurable Microstructure Designs for Future Software Defined Materials

Tunable microstructures are fundamental for the development of Software Defined Materials (SDMs). The concept to obtain reconfigurability within a SDM is demonstrated. Additionally, several concepts to perform reconfigurability with microstructures are reviewed and a novel tunable omega
$(\Omega)$
structured metamaterial design is validated numerically and experimentally. It can achieve tunable absorption or transmittance. The omega structured element has improved characteris-tics compared to the more conventional microstructure designs. Tunability is accomplished through varactor diodes which allow reconfiguration from an absorption rate of 0.75 to a transmission rate of 0.65.