Analysis, Characterization and Application of Microwave Metamaterials

Abstract

Metamaterials are an extremely fast growing and interesting field of study. The promise of new materials whose constitutive parameters are based on structure inclusions have drawn the interest of thousands and continue to inspire. Despite these promises not much in the way of applied technologies has come from the research. This thesis is the result of numerous years of work into the characterization and application of microwave metamaterials. The aim of the research was to develop a design process, characterize fully, and apply metamaterials to some current technology. The thesis first details the enhanced directivity of a metamaterial slab and a plausible explanation for the phenomenon. It looks into the design process of low loss metamaterials, and the use of infra-red imaging to help characterize them. Then it details how a metamaterial, the S-shaped split ring resonator, behaves with changes in polarization and angle of incidence. It details the ambiguity issues that come with constitutive parameter extraction and how to resolve them. The thesis ends with the ongoing work to explore a new metamaterial design and application to millimeter wave notch filters.