Design and Simulation of Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna Loaded with Metamaterial Structure

Recently, there has been growing interest in the study of Metamaterials both theoretically and experimentally. Metamaterials (MTM) are artificial materials engineered to have properties that may not be found in nature. The invention of metamaterial was started in the late 1960s. In 1967, Victor Georgievich Veselago studied the electrodynamics of substances with simultaneously negative values of dielectric permittivity (ε) and magnetic permeability (μ) [1]. Positive permeability and permittivity are the basic properties of conventional materials available in nature called as Double Positive (DPS) materials. Metamaterials are termed as Double Negative (DNG) materials due to the property of negative ε and μ. V. G. Veselago found that the Poynting vector of the plane wave is antiparallel to the direction of the phase velocity, which is contrary to the conventional case of plane wave propagation in natural media. Although metamaterial does not present in nature, interesting properties were theoretically predicted for these substances, such as the reversal of the Snell Law, Doppler Effects, and Cherenkov radiation etc. Metamaterials are sometimes referred to as Negative Index Materials (NIM) as they exhibit negative index of refraction. A composite medium of conducting, non-magnetic elements can form a Left-Handed frequency band, as the electric field (E), magnetic intensity (H) and propagation vector (k) are related by a left-hand rule [2].