Efficient radiational outcoupling of electromagnetic energy from hyperbolic metamaterial resonators

Abstract

Hyperbolic metamaterials were initially proposed in optics to boost radiation efficiencies of quantum emitters. Adopting this concept for antenna design allows approaching long-standing contests in radio physics. For example, broadband impedance matching, accompanied with moderately high antenna gain, is among the existent challenges. Here we propose employing hyperbolic metamaterials for a broadband impedance matching, while a structured layer on top of a metamaterials slab ensures an efficient and directive energy outcoupling to a free space. In particular, a subwavelength loop antenna, placed underneath the matching layer, efficiently excites bulk metamaterial modes, which have well-resolved spatial–temporal separation owing to the hypebolicity of effective permeability tensor. Interplaying chromatic and modal dispersions enable to map different frequencies into non overlapping spatial locations within a compact subwavelength hyperbolic slab. The outcoupling of energy to the free space is obtained by patterning the slab with additional resonant elements, e.g. high index dielectric spheres. As the result, two-order of magnitude improvement in linear gain of the device is predicted. The proposed new architecture can find a use in applications, where multiband or broadband compact devices are required.