(Press-News.org)
Electromagnetic pulses (EMPs)—high-energy-density and ultra-wideband beams of electromagnetic radiation—are generated from sources such as nuclear explosions, high-power electromagnetic pulse devices, and intentional electromagnetic interference. These pulses can infiltrate electronic equipment to significantly incapacitate civilian and military electrical, electronic, and communications infrastructures and undermine command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
In recent years, scientists have explored EMP-shielded exterior glass windows for buildings and transportation systems to address this new defense challenge. While there have been some promising developments in this regard, including transparent electrodes based on conductive oxides and metal mesh films integrated with saline, no existing transparent glass technology offers broadband EMP protection along with high optical transparency for practical applications.
In a breakthrough, a team of researchers from the Republic of Korea and the USA, led by Professor Chang Won Jung from the Department of Semiconductor Engineering at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, has successfully addressed this technological gap. Their novel findings were made available online on November 24, 2025 and have been published in Volume 72 of Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal on December 1, 2025.
In this study, the researchers designed various EMP shielding window configurations with different metal mesh structures: square grid, symmetric hexagonal, asymmetric hexagonal, cross dipole, and double square loop. Among all the designs, they chose and applied the asymmetric hexagonal metal mesh film structure to come up with a transparent glass window that demonstrates enhanced shielding effectiveness compared to conventional designs, while minimizing degradation in visual transparency. In addition, the proposed structure operates as a fully passive system, requiring no external power supply or complex active components, which makes it well suited for practical architectural applications.
“The key contribution of our study is the realization of strong EMP shielding performance over an ultra-wide frequency range while maintaining the form of a transparent glass window. To date, there have been very few reports of transparent window structures that simultaneously satisfy EMP shielding levels exceeding 60 dB for civilian environments and 80 dB for military-grade requirements while preserving optical transparency,” remarks Prof. Jung.
The proposed technology can be applied to a wide range of architectural and infrastructure environments that require protection from electromagnetic interference or EMP-related disturbances. Its potential applications include government facilities, data centers, hospitals, airports, and research facilities where sensitive electronic equipment is densely deployed, as well as critical communication and control infrastructures.
“Since the proposed structure can be integrated into transparent window systems, it offers a significantly broader range of architectural applications compared to conventional opaque shielding solutions,” says Prof. Jung, highlighting the generalizability of their next-generation technology.
As modern society becomes increasingly dependent on electronic systems and networked infrastructures, protection against invisible electromagnetic threats will become an increasingly important challenge. The technology proposed in this study provides a foundational approach to enhancing electromagnetic safety without compromising building appearance or usability. In the long term, it is expected to contribute to improved reliability and resilience of smart cities, advanced industrial facilities, and national critical infrastructures.
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Reference
DOI: 10.1016/j.jestch.2025.102235
About Seoul National University of Science and Technology (SEOULTECH)
Seoul National University of Science and Technology, commonly known as 'SEOULTECH,' is a national university located in Nowon-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Founded in April 1910, around the time of the establishment of the Republic of Korea, SEOULTECH has grown into a large and comprehensive university with a campus size of 504,922 m2.
It comprises 10 undergraduate schools, 35 departments, 6 graduate schools, and has an enrollment of approximately 14,595 students.
Website: https://en.seoultech.ac.kr/
About the author
Chang Won Jung is a Professor at the Seoul National University of Science and Technology, specializing in the study of electromagnetics, antenna design, and functional metasurface structures. He earned his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California in 2001, followed by a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine, in 2005. Prior to his academic tenure at SeoulTech, he gained significant industry experience as a Research Engineer at LG Information and Telecommunication and as a Senior Research Engineer at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology. His current research portfolio encompasses electromagnetic interference, millimeter-wave technology, reconfigurable antennas, and wireless power transfer systems.
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