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For a small antenna placed on a metamaterial ground plane vertically or horizontally, we analyzed the conditions under which the antenna emissions are highly directional. We found through finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations that a previously discovered directional emission phenomenon can be explained by our theory for the horizontal antenna case. For the vertical antenna case, we employed FDTD simulations to design a realistic metamaterial ground plane with desired reflection phase properties, and performed microwave experiments to verify its ability to support directional emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) propagating along a perfectly electric conducting film with an array of cut-through slits are studied analytically, and both the symmetric and asymmetric dielectric environments of the film are considered. Such a film structure, whether its substrate and superstrate are the same or different, may support a series of SPP modes, whose dispersion relations can be tailored by the film geometry. There exists a fundamental mode without any cutoff in the symmetric film structure, whereas all modes in the asymmetric structure have cutoffs, meaning that even the lowest-order mode can only exist when the film thickness is larger than a certain value. Moreover, for both types of symmetric and asymmetric film structures, the SPP bands do not overlap each other in the frequency domain, so the single-mode propagation is available for each mode. The fields of SPP modes are often highly confined to the structured film when the frequency approaches the asymptotic frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We apply coordinate transformations in the design of waveguides with bent geometry to reduce reflection at the incident port. It was found that in the case of metallic waveguides, by applying the transformation to the medium inside a right-angle bent waveguide, low reflection can be obtained. For the case of dielectric waveguides, this can also be done by applying the same transformation to the bent region containing both the dielectric core and its claddings. Our proposed technique provides an alternative method for designing bent waveguides with low insertion loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In physics, the Brewster effect initially refers to a reflectionless transmission of a transverse-magnetic wave that impinges on an interface separating two different regular media at a particular angle, known as the Brewster angle. Nowadays, people have recognized that the Brewster effect can also be observed under transverse-electric incidences such as in magnetic media. However, all Brewster effects observed so far were associated with a unique incident angle. In this work, we demonstrate a Terahertz metasurface on which the Brewster effect can be observed at all angles of incidence. The underlying physics behind this all-angle Brewster effect is the dispersion engineered at each angle of incidence to strictly match the longitudinal wave impedance on both sides of the surface. Theoretical analysis, full-wave simulation, and experimental results are consistent with each other. The proposed approach is simple but robust and scalable to other frequencies, implying promising applications such as perfect polarizers and space phase shifters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subwavelength guiding of channel plasmon polaritons (CPPs) is realized by a properly structured metallic groove at frequencies far below the plasma frequency of metal. Compared with CPPs at visible frequencies, more versatile physical mechanisms can be introduced in these CPPs by surface patterning, so that they can exhibit superior features as visible CPPs, while eliminating the potential drawbacks of the latter. Such designer CPPs are explained physically with the effective-index method and verified experimentally in the microwave regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that a metallic waveguide behaves as an electric (magnetic) plasma for transverse-electric (transverse-magnetic) polarized electromagnetic (EM) waves at frequencies below cutoff value. Inserting anisotropic resonance structures of either electric or magnetic type into a waveguide, we find extraordinary transmissions of EM waves with different polarizations through the waveguide at frequencies well below the waveguide’s cutoff value, following two different mechanisms. Microwave experiments, in excellent agreements with finite-different-time-domain simulations, are performed to demonstrate all theoretical predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present letter, a design for active left-handed material collaborated with microwave varactors is proposed and experimentally realized. Both the results of simulation and experiment verify the tunable left-handed properties of the structure in microwave band. A controllable beam steering is then observed experimentally by a prism fabricated by such metamaterial. The simplicity of the active design and its tunable negative refraction indices make it useful for various applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A one-dimensional metamaterial structure is realized by printing subwavelength paired S-shaped metallic strips only on one side of a dielectric substrate. The simultaneously negative effective permittivity and permeability of such metamaterial are retrieved from the scattering parameters yielded in the numerical simulation. Experiments aimed to verify the transmission and refraction properties of the metamaterial are conducted, and the results show the existence of the negative refraction within the same frequency band, as indicated in the simulation. The proposed structure design makes it easy to fabricate and provides feasibilities for making controllable metamaterial by incorporating itself with lumped active elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waveguides using a slab of left-handed metamaterial (LHM) adjacent to a slab of right-handed material (RHM) have shown backward coupling properties over the frequency range in the LHM passband where both permittivity and permeability are negative. In this letter the authors further show that when both slabs are LHMs with different passbands, the resultant backward coupling frequency band is a union of both passbands. The curious fact that the stop band of a metamaterial where permittivity is negative and permeability is positive can support propagating wave is shown theoretically. Backward couplers are demonstrated experimentally to have wideband and dual-band properties by judiciously choosing LHM-LHM and LHM-RHM slabs. This proposed method offers flexibility in producing wideband/multiband coupling and can be used to design and fabricate microwave devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]