Labyrinth based left-handed metamaterials and sub-wavelength focusing of electromagnetic waves

Abstract

We propose and demonstrate a resonant structure that solves two major problems related to the split-ring resonator structure. These major problems may be stated as the bianisotropy and electric coupling to the magnetic resonance. These two problems introduce difficulties in obtaining isotropic left-handed metamaterial mediums. The resonant structure that we propose here solves both of these problems. We further show that in addition to the magnetic resonance, when combined with a suitable wire medium, the structure that we propose exhibits left-handed transmission band. We further demonstrate the sub-wavelength focusing of electromagnetic waves by use of a two dimensional labyrinth based metamaterial. Our experimental results showed that it is possible to focus the source field with half widths as small as λ/4 by using the labyrinth based metamaterial.