Negative Refractive Index Materials Based on Transmission Lines

Professor Anthony Grbic,
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Dept.,
University of Michigan Ann Arbor

This talk will describe negative refractive index metamaterials that are based on transmission-line networks. It will focus on microwave structures that consist of transmission lines loaded with reactive elements. Both planar and volumetric negative refractive index metamaterials will be presented and their operation explained. A planar lens made of such structures, that can achieve subwavelength resolution at microwave frequencies, will also be described. Finally, ways to push these transmission-line based structures to optical frequencies using plasmonic
materials will be outlined.

Anthony Grbic received the B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada in 1998, 2000 and 2005, respectively. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. His research interests include negative refractive index metamaterials, periodic structures, printed antennas and microwave circuits.