A frequency tunable electromagnetic metamaterial is proposed based on mechanical movement method. Two rings are etched against each other on two separate substrates and the two substrates can be adjusted to move relatively. Thus, the resonant frequency can be modulated due to the changed coupling capacitance between the rings according to equivalent circuit theory. Simulation results show that the transmissions (S21) can be continuously adjusted, and the retrieved effective parameters based on simulated scattering parameters reveal that the negative permittivity is available and the negative permittivity frequency region can be tuned downward or upward by slipping the rings either along or perpendicular to the gap's directions. By combining frequency modulations in the two directions, resonant frequency can be shifted from 6.2 GHz to 8.7 GHz, which has realized an efficient modulation in a broad frequency range. The proposed tunable metamaterial has potential applications to design dual band, multi-band antennas and frequency reconfigurable antennas.

Date Published: 5 November 2010
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 7849, Optical Design and Testing IV, 784911 (5 November 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.869484

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7849:
Optical Design and Testing IV
Yongtian Wang; Julie Bentley; Chunlei Du; Kimio Tatsuno; Hendrik P. Urbach, Editor(s)