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Uniplanar left-handed artificial metamaterials

Article  in  Journal of Optics A Pure and Applied Optics · January 2005

DOI: 10.1088/1464-4258/7/2/006

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INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS PUBLISHING JOURNAL OF OPTICS A: PURE AND APPLIED OPTICS
J. Opt. A: Pure Appl. Opt. 7 (2005) S44–S50 doi:10.1088/1464-4258/7/2/006

Uniplanar left-handed artificial

metamaterials
George Goussetis, Alexandros P Feresidis, Shenhong Wang,
Yunchuan Guo and John C Vardaxoglou
Wireless Communications Research Group, Department of Electronic and Electrical
Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK

Received 9 June 2004, accepted for publication 24 August 2004

Published 20 January 2005
Online at stacks.iop.org/JOptA/7/S44
Abstract
Planar periodic arrays of metallic elements printed on grounded dielectric
substrates are presented to exhibit left-handed properties for surface wave
propagation. The proposed structures dispense with the need for grounding
vias and ease the implementation of uniplanar left-handed metamaterials at
higher frequencies. A transmission line description is used for the initial
design and interpretation of the left-handed property. A thorough study
based on full wave simulations is carried out with regards to the effect of the
element geometrical characteristics and the array periodicity to the
properties of the artificial material. Dispersion curves are presented and
studied. The distribution of the modal fields in the unit cell is also studied in
order to provide an explanation of the material properties. The scalability of
the proposed structures to infrared frequencies is demonstrated.

Keywords: metamaterials, negative refraction, left-handed media, band gap

1. Introduction A transmission line approach for the analysis and design

Recently, there has been intensive research effort in the
microwave and physics communities on composite materials
that support left-handed propagation. The term left-handed
describes the fact that the vectors E, H and k form a left-
handed (LH) triplet, instead of a right-handed (RH) triplet,
as is the case in conventional right-handed media [1]. Thus,
in LH media the Poynting vector E × H is anti-parallel to
the wavevector k. In other words, the direction of phase
velocity is opposite to the direction of the group velocity and
energy propagation. This corresponds to the fact that LH
materials possess a negative effective refractive index n (NRI)
related to the phase velocity according to vp = c/n. For
NRI metamaterials, the dispersion relation of the first order
mode has negative gradient. This is a clear indication of anti-
parallel phase (ω/β) and group (dω/dβ) velocities. If the
energy flow and hence the group velocity are considered to
travel in the positive direction, the phase velocity and thus the
wavenumber of an NRI material is negative, and this is the
solution that has a physical meaning. Recently, artificial LH
media have been synthesized and their unusual properties such
as negative refraction and subwavelength focusing have been
experimentally demonstrated [2–4].
of planar LH media has been proposed [5–7]. According
to this approach, left-handed propagation occurs in a dual
transmission line in one and two dimensions. Instead of the
shunt capacitance and series inductance of the standard circuit
representation of RH transmission lines (TL), LH-TL can be
produced introducing series capacitance and shunt inductance.
Based on this analysis, many properties of NRI media have
been predicted and the performance of finite structures has
been demonstrated. Distributed LH structures, which are
compatible with photolithographic fabrication techniques,
have also been presented recently [4, 6–8]. The distributed
planar LH structures proposed thus far require either a
grounding via [4, 6, 7] or planar elements embedded vertically
in a planar grounded dielectric substrate [8].
In this paper we investigate novel uniplanar left-handed
metamaterials and study their properties as a function of their
geometry and array periodicity. The proposed structures
dispense with the need for grounding vias and multilayer
configurations [4]. Variations of the split ring resonator (SRR)
element [9–11] printed on a grounded dielectric substrate
are demonstrated to exhibit left-handed properties for surface
wave propagation, based on the emerging dispersion relations.
In order to explain their performance, the TL approach is
initially used and related to the modal field distribution in

1464-4258/05/020044+07$30.00 © 2005 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK S44


CAP CAP
ID=C1 ID=C2
C= C1/2 pF C=C1/2 pF
y
IND
ID=L1
L=L1 nH
z
Figure 1. Equivalent circuit of the unit cell of a dual transmission
line (or LH-TL).
(This figure is in colour only in the electronic version)
the unit cell. Emphasis is given to the distributions of the
E and H fields and how they satisfy the requirement of
LH media for shunt inductance and series capacitance. The
proposed structures are simple to fabricate and their scalability
to higher frequencies is demonstrated. This is achieved based
on simulation results at far-infrared frequencies for an LH
material with element dimensions compatible with published
microfabrication techniques [12].
The paper is organized as follows. In section 2, a
brief outline of the dual transmission line concept is given
and its relation to the modal E and H fields is described.
The SRR element array and its variations are studied in
section 2. Dispersion diagrams and modal field distributions
are presented and discussed. In section 3, a spiral element
is utilized for the design of an LH medium at far-infrared
frequencies.
2. Equivalent circuit
A brief outline of the dual transmission line (TL) concept for
LH media is given here in order to explain its relation to the
modal E and H fields that are studied in this paper. As has
been shown recently, a periodic structure with a unit cell that
can be described by the equivalent circuit of figure 1 exhibits
LH properties, i.e. antiparallel group and phase velocities, and
negative index of refraction [3]. The LH nature is provided by
the series capacitor and shunt inductor, as opposed to the series
inductor and shunt capacitor of the conventional RH-TL.
Based on this approach, it is instructive to study the
distribution of the electric and magnetic field in the unit
cell taking into account the requirement for shunt inductance
and series capacitance. Shunt inductance is related to the
magnetic field that would be produced by an ideal shunt
inductor, i.e. the z-component of the magnetic field (Hz ).
Similarly, a series capacitor would produce electric field along
the y-axis (assuming that the E-field is parallel to the y-axis and
therefore ‘voltage is applied’ along y). The y-component of
the electric field (E y ) is therefore a measure of the equivalent
series capacitance. The distributions of Hz and E y for the
first resonant mode of the proposed arrays are presented and
discussed in the following section.
Uniplanar left-handed artificial metamaterials
L
W
z y
s
(a) (b)
x Y M
Γ X
Reciprocal Irreducible
Space u.c. Brillouin zone
(c)
Figure 2. Unit cells of the (a) rectangular SRR, (b) loaded SRR, and
(c) reciprocal lattice and irreducible Brillouin zone.
3. Uniplanar material designs
A full wave analysis is used in this section to produce the
dispersion characteristics and modal field distributions of the
proposed structures. The analysis is based on the formulation
of the mixed potential integral equation (MPIE) with a closed
form periodic Green functions that accounts for metallic
elements layered in dielectric substrates. The method of
moments in conjunction with triangular patch basis functions is
used to solve the MPIE [13]. Commercially available software
(HFSS) based on the finite-element method (FEM) has also
been used to verify the results [14].
The rectangular SRR is initially studied as the unit element
of 2D uniplanar periodic arrays (figure 2(a)). The thickness
of the metallic elements is taken as zero in the simulations.
The elements are considered on a 1.13 mm thick grounded
dielectric substrate of dielectric constant εr = 2.2. The SRR
dimensions are: small side 2.8 mm, large side 5.8 mm, line
width 0.2 mm, and gap 0.2 mm.
The dispersion diagram of the first two modes of the SRR
array with a relatively large unit cell of 5 mm × 8 mm is shown
in figure 3. The element together with the unit cell is shown
as the inset in the same figure. The material behaves as an RH
medium since the dispersion curves have a positive gradient.
The ripples of the curves are due to tolerances in terms of
the accuracy of the simulation method. The first resonant
mode corresponds to electric field polarization parallel to the
larger dimension of the element and aligned with the SRR
gap. Therefore, in the X direction the first resonant mode is
predominantly TE, and in the Y direction the first mode is
predominantly TM. In the XM and MY sections of the Brillouin
contour the modes are hybrid.
A study has been carried out with regards to the effect of
the periodicity of the SRR array on the dispersion relations, and
representative results are presented. In figure 4 the dispersion
relation for a small unit cell along y is shown. This unit cell
with dimensions 5 mm × 6 mm will be referred to as unit cell
1, or UC1. It is evident that the small periodicity along y
does not affect significantly the dispersion characteristics of
the array apart from a slight decrease of the frequency of the
supported modes.
Figure 5 shows the dispersion relation for the SRR array
with a small unit cell along x. The unit cell with dimensions
3 mm × 8 mm will be referred to as UC2. The effect of the
S45
G Goussetis et al

20

18

16

14
Frequency (GHz)

12

10

0
Γ X M Y Γ

Figure 3. Dispersion relation for the SRR grounded periodic array with large unit cell. Bold curves correspond to modes, and the dash line
corresponds to the light line.

20

18

16

14
Frequency (GHz)

12

10

0
Γ X M Y Γ

Figure 4. Dispersion relation for the SRR grounded periodic array with unit cell UC1.

x-periodicity to the handedness of the structure is significant.
For small x-periodicity the structure behaves as an LH medium
in the X part of the Brillouin zone, and hence the dispersion
curve has a negative gradient. Reducing the periodicity along y
affects only slightly the behaviour of the structure. Therefore,
the SRR in a small unit cell has an LH medium response in
the X part of the Brillouin zone (figure 6). However, both
in figures 5 and 6 the structure is RH in the Y part of the
Brillouin zone.
A capacitive loading of the gap in the SRR element
(figure 2(b)) has been found to enhance further the left
handedness of the medium. This is shown in the dispersion
relation in figure 7 where the proposed loaded SRR is also
shown as an inset. In this topology we have introduced larger
reentrant faces where opposite charges accumulate and the
capacitance values are increased. The structure now supports
LH propagation throughout the Brillouin zone. Results
obtained from HFSS for the first LH mode are also shown
in figure 7 and are in good agreement with the MPIE method.
A study of the distribution of the Hz and E y field
components for the first resonant mode of the proposed arrays
has been carried out. An explanation of the performance of the
structures can be provided based on the LH-TL approach. As
described in section 2, the E y field is a measure of the series
capacitance and the Hz field a measure of the shunt inductance,
which are both required for an LH effective medium. The
corresponding E y and Hz field distributions in the unit cell of
the proposed structures are shown in figure 8.
Figures 8(a), (e) show the field distributions for the SRR
in UC1 and figures (b), (f) the fields for the SRR in UC2.
Capacitance emerges in the SRR gap and between successive
elements, where opposite charges gather on either side.
Furthermore, the current circulates along the open loop of the
SRR, resulting in magnetic activity and therefore inductance.
Comparing the E y and Hz values of the two structures (SRR-
UC1 and SRR-UC2) it is evident that SRR-UC2 exhibits
significantly stronger electric and magnetic activity, which in
turn results in the LH behaviour of the structure. In the case of
SRR-UC1 the fields and the corresponding series capacitance

S46
 Uniplanar left-handed artificial metamaterials

20

18

16

14
Frequency (GHz)

12

10

0
Γ X M Y Γ

Figure 5. Dispersion relation for the SRR grounded periodic array with unit cell UC2.

20

18

16

14
Frequency (GHz)

12

10

0
Γ X M Y Γ

Figure 6. Dispersion relation for the SRR grounded periodic array with small unit cell.

20

18

16

14
Frequency (GHz)

12

10

0
Γ X M Y Γ

Figure 7. Dispersion relation for the capacitive-loaded SRR grounded periodic array. White dots show results obtained from HFSS.

and shunt inductance are weak, and the structure is RH. Similar the small unit cell shown in figures 8(c) and (g). This explains
field distributions to the SRR-UC2 are obtained for the SRR in the similar dispersion relations of these two structures.

S47
G Goussetis et al

(a) (e)

(b) (f)

(c) (g)

(d) (h)

Figure 8. Normalized values of the E y component (a)–(d) and the Hz component (e)–(h) of the SRR for different periodicities, and the
loaded SRR element arrays at the first resonant mode in the X part of the Brillouin zone.

Further enhancement of the E y field is obtained for the
loaded SRR (figure 8(d)). Strong E y fields appear in the SRR
gap which correspond to an increase of the series capacitance.
Furthermore, current now also flows along the reentering
loads, which results in a further increase of Hz (figure 8(h)).
The structure is more miniature and supports LH propagation
throughout the Brillouin zone.
4. LH material at far-infrared frequencies
An LH medium has been designed to operate at far-infrared
frequencies, based on the studies of the previous sections. SRR
elements have been previously proposed for the realization
of magnetic composite media at optical frequencies [12, 15].
In order to present realistic designs that can be fabricated

S48
 Uniplanar left-handed artificial metamaterials

-1

-3

Refractive index
-5 ΓX
z y
ΓY

-7

x -9

-11

Figure 9. Unit cell of spiral element (line width is 4 µm and all -13
gaps are 2 µm). 300 320 340 360 380
Frequency (GHz)

using existing techniques, we followed the specifications of a
previously published micro-fabrication technique and adhered
to its restrictions in terms of minimum gaps and metal line
widths [12]. The gaps are 2 µm and the metal line widths
are 4 µm. Although the thickness of the elements has
been taken as zero in the simulations, losses would occur
in a practical implementation as in [12]. The element is
supported on a quartz substrate of 50 µm thickness. Based
on these dimensions, the loaded SRR element was found to be
unsuitable for an LH medium design. This can be attributed
to the fact that the series capacitance and shunt inductance
values were not high enough for an LH response. A spiral-
element geometry, similar to that in [16], has been employed
that produces the desired LH response. The unit cell of the
proposed structure (40 µm × 40 µm) is shown in figure 9.
The dispersion relation of the first resonant mode of the
structure is shown in figure 10. The structure behaves as an
LH medium throughout the Brillouin zone. In addition, the
behaviour is more symmetrical for both X and Y directions,
as compared to the capacitive-loaded SRR of the previous
section. Our simulations have shown that for a 400 µm thick
quartz substrate the shape of the mode is very similar but
is now between 250 and 300 GHz. The refractive index of
Figure 11. Refractive index of the structure calculated from
figure 10.
the proposed material has been calculated from the dispersion
diagram and is shown in figure 11.
5. Conclusion
Uniplanar LH artificial metamaterials have been presented
and studied. The periodic materials consist of SRR elements
and some variations printed on a grounded substrate in the
absence of grounding vias. In particular, a capacitive-loaded
SRR exhibits LH behaviour throughout the Brillouin zone. A
spiral element was utilized for the design of an LH medium
at far-infrared frequencies. A transmission line description
was used for the initial design and interpretation of the LH
property. A thorough study based on dispersion diagrams was
carried out with regards to the effect of the element geometrical
characteristics and the array periodicity on the properties of the
artificial material. It has been demonstrated that, apart form
the element geometry, the periodicity can also be critical for
achieving left-handedness. The distribution of the modal fields
in the unit cell was studied in order to provide an explanation
of the material properties.

450

400
Frequency (GHz)

350

300

250

200
Γ X M Y Γ

Figure 10. Dispersion diagram of spiral element. Bold curve: first resonant mode; dash line: light line.

S49
 G Goussetis et al
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