Spoof-Surface-Plasmon-Polariton Metawaveguide and its Application in Frequency-Shift Keying

Spoof-surface-plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) supported by artificial microwave metawaveguides can mimic other properties of optical-surface-plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and have the potential to build the next generation of circuits and systems. However, the traditional model of SSPP metawaveguides take only physical characters of electrical length and characteristic impedance into consideration and thus can hardly guide the design of integrated SSPP systems efficiently. In this work, a modified model of SSPP metawaveguide is proposed to realize multicharacteristic optimization design of integrated SSPP systems. To validate the modified model, a SSPP-based frequency-shifting keying (FSK) modulation and demodulation system is realized. In comparison to microstrips and SSPP metawaveguides based on the traditional model, the SSPP metawaveguides based on the modified model bring lower discontinuity, lower coupling, and lower system complexity to the FSK modulation and demodulation system, which improves the quality of demodulated signals significantly. Hence, exploring physical characteristics of SSPP metawaveguides by introducing modified models is an effective route to realize outstanding integrated SSPP systems.