A Metamaterial for Directive Emission

TLDR

The paper reports the first results on emission from a metamaterial. We show how the specific properties of a metallic composite material can modify the emission of an embedded source, and demonstrate this effect experimentally in the microwave domain. The study finds that, under suitable conditions, a source embedded in a metamaterial slab emits energy in a narrow cone, and experimentally the resulting antenna achieves directivity comparable to leading photonic‑crystal antennas. Citation: Phys.

Abstract

In this paper we present the first results on emission in metamaterial. We show how the specific properties of metallic composite material can modify the emission of an embedded source. We show that under proper conditions the energy radiated by a source embedded in a slab of metamaterial will be concentrated in a narrow cone in the surrounding media. An experimental demonstration of this effect is given in the microwave domain, and the constructed antenna has a directivity equivalent to the best reported results with photonic-crystal-based antennas but using a completely different physical principle [B. Temelkuaran, J. Appl. Phys. 87, 603 (2000)]].