Investigation of gain enhancement of electrically small antennas using double-negative, single-negative, and double-positive materials

Abstract

In this paper, it is shown that a double-negative or a mu-negative shell can be used to achieve a very high gain for an electrically small loop. It is also seen that together with the high gain, the metamaterial shell can be used to achieve a very uniform gain characteristic with respect to the shell dimensions. This is accomplished by a proper choice of the media parameters of the metamaterial shell and the region surrounding the antenna. This significantly eases the fabrication constraints and the close tolerances on the shell which was a major drawback towards the practical realization of the shell. Also, significant power gain can be obtained when the radiated power from the metamaterial shell is compared to the power radiated by a loop of the same radius as the outer radius of the shell. In addition, it is also found that a double-positive shell of the same dimensions as the metamaterial shell can be used to significantly increase the gain of the infinitesimal antenna. The power gain characteristics show distinct resonant peaks in this case. Excellent matching characteristics are observed corresponding to the radiated power gain.