1. Exploiting Intrinsic Dispersion of Metamaterials for Designing Broadband Aperture Antennas: Theory and Experimental Verification
- Author
-
Alessandro Toscano, Fabrizio Trotta, Silvio Hrabar, Alessio Monti, A. Verrengia, Filiberto Bilotti, Damir Muha, Davide Ramaccia, Mirko Barbuto, Ramaccia, Davide, Barbuto, Mirko, Monti, Alessio, Verrengia, Andrea, Trotta, Fabrizio, Muha, Damir, Hrabar, Silvio, Bilotti, Filiberto, and Toscano, Alessandro
- Subjects
horn antenna ,Aperture ,Antenna radiation pattern ,Physics::Optics ,02 engineering and technology ,antenna radiation patterns ,aperture antennas ,electromagnetic metamaterials ,gain control ,horn antennas ,law.invention ,Optics ,Narrowband ,law ,0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,Physics ,Super high frequency ,Directional antenna ,business.industry ,electromagnetic metamaterial ,020208 electrical & electronic engineering ,Metamaterial ,aperture antenna ,020206 networking & telecommunications ,Condensed Matter Physics ,Lens (optics) ,Horn antenna ,business ,Metamaterial antenna - Abstract
The intrinsic frequency dispersion has usually been considered as a relevant drawback of metamaterials, limiting their appli- cation to narrowband microwave components. However, we have recently demonstrated that a particular metam aterial-based lens, consisting of a combination of an epsilon-near- zero (ENZ) material and air, is able to enhance the gain of short horn antennas over a broad frequency range. This result was achieved by exploiting the dispersive nature of ENZ metamaterials. In this communication, we further discuss the latter aspect, giving more details about the physic al mechanism enabling broadband operation of shortened horns loaded with ENZ–air lenses. The discussion is supported by a set of experimental results obtained on a fabricated prototype
- Published
- 2016