Metamaterial Loadings for Waveguide Miniaturization

Abstract: We show that a rectangular metallic waveguide loaded with metamaterial elements consisting of electric-field coupled (ELC) resonators placed at the side walls can operate well below the cutoff frequency of the respective unloaded waveguide. The dispersion diagrams indicate that propagating modes in ELC-loaded waveguides are of forward-type for both TE and TM modes. We also study the dispersion diagram and transmission characteristics of rectangular metallic waveguides simultaneously loaded with ELCs and split ring resonators (SRRs). Such doubly-loaded waveguides can support both forward wave and backward waves, and provide independent control of the propagation characteristics for the respective modes.