Microwave Metamaterials: Superlensing and Design of Low Reflection Coatings

Abstract

Metamaterials are artificially engineered materials that have properties not attainable with naturally occurring materials, such as a negative refractive index. They enable the design of novel microwave devices, which cannot be realized on the basis of naturally occurring materials. The imaging properties of a metamaterial superlens and the design of metamaterial low reflection coatings are investigated in this work. A planar negative refractive index metamaterial slab focuses waves emitted from a Hertzian dipole to an image plane behind the slab. A resolution beyond that of conventional imaging systems is thereby achieved. The imaging characteristics of the superlens are investigated analytically in the spectral domain by expressing the fields as a Fourier integral. A novel approach for the realization of Drude and Lorentz dispersive metamaterial radar absorbers is presented. A metamaterial based anti-reflection coating is realized and studied experimentally.