Abstract
Creeping waves traveling around a volumetric electromagnetic scatterer provide a significant contribution to its radar cross-section. While quite a few efforts were devoted to suppressing creeping waves as a part of radar countermeasures, here we utilize specially engineered creeping waves to our advantage to create broadband, all-angle, and polarization scatterers. Metalized spherical surfaces, patterned with corona virus-like spikes are designed to provide a broadband constructive interference between the specular reflection and creeping waves, elevating the scattering cross-section. The demonstrated miniature corona scatterers utilize both resonant cascading phenomena and traveling wave interference to tailor electromagnetic interactions, outperforming a resonant dipole in terms of amplitude and bandwidth quite significantly. Our experimental samples are fabricated with an additive manufacturing technique, where a 3D-printed plastic skeleton is subsequently metalized. Micron-thick layers allow governing electromagnetic interactions as if the entire object was made of solid metal. Lightweight, all-angle, all-polarization, and broadband compact scatterers such as these, reported here, have numerous applications, including radar deception, electromagnetic beckoning, and many others.