Rayspan - Pioneering Metamaterials

Metamaterials exhibit unique properties that are not found in nature. Among those properties, electromagnetic wave propagation through metamaterials is fundamentally altered from that of conventional materials. One of the most significant changes in propagation exhibited by metamaterials is the phenomenon of negative index of refraction.

Metamaterials make possible breakthrough improvements in the components and subsystems that comprise communication networks. Following is an overview of metamaterial technology and the capabilities it brings - some of which were previously unimaginable.

1. What is a metamaterial?

Metamaterials are artificial composite materials engineered to produce a desired electromagnetic behavior which surpasses that of natural structures. They are comprised of structures which are much smaller than the wavelength of the electromagnetic waves propagating through the material.

Metamaterials are highly flexible in their implementation. They can be designed and fabricated to support multiple component and subsystem requirements simultaneously without suffering the sacrifice in performance that would result in conventional materials.

2. What essential communications components and subsystems are enabled by metamaterials?

Metamaterials technology brings three powerful enabling capabilities: (1) the ability to strongly manipulate the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the confines of small structures, (2) simultaneous support of multiple RF functions, and (3) the freedom to precisely determine a broad set of parameters which include operating frequency and bandwidth; positive, negative and zero phase offsets; constant phase propagation; and matching conditions and number and positioning of ports.

These capabilities make possible a broad range of metamaterial components and subsystems:

Physically small, but electrically large components such as compact antennas sized on the order of a signal's wavelength/10 while providing performance equal to or better than conventional antennas sized wavelength/2 - a five times size reduction.
Broadband matching circuits, phase-shifting components and transmission lines which preserve phase linearity over frequency ranges five to ten times greater than those provided by conventional counterparts.
Multi-band components whose frequencies of operation can be tailored to specific applications and are not limited to harmonic frequency multiples.