Study of metamaterial unit cells for wireless application

Abstract

Metamaterials are artificial effectively-homogenous electromagnetic structures with properties those are not readily available in nature, metamaterials are generally periodic structures made up of unit cells. While the field of metamaterial is receiving much interest, not too many researches have been done to characterize the metamaterial. In this research work, characterization and synthesis of metamaerial unit cells for wireless applications are investigated. Eight metamaterial unit cells are chosen to characterize and investigate the propagation of EM waves inside the metamaterial. Eigenmode solver in Computer Simulation Technology Microwave studio (CST MWS) has been used to derive the dispersion diagram. From the analysis seven of the cells showed that they are pure left handed (PLH) while the remaining one is composite right/left handed (CRLH). Furthermore, based on the resonance frequencies four unit cell structures are found resonances occurred between 2 GHz to 5 GHz and suitable for wireless application. The unit cell which showed CRLH characteristics is further analyzed based on electric field and current distribution. Finally, an equivalent circuit has been derived based upon the field and current distributions of the CRLH unit cell structure. This analysis can be applied as a useful tool for developing metamaterial transmission line and antenna.