Metamaterials and Metamaterial-Based Antenna Technology

The study of metamaterials is among the most important and attractive topics of the electromagnetic field theory and applications in the past 15 years.Much effort has been devoted to scientific research into the new physical phenomena with great progress.This paper presents the thoughts about the applications of metamaterials in innovative antenna designs from an engineering perspective.The new understanding of metamaterials offers us great possibility to translate the physical concepts of metamaterials in laboratories to innovative antenna designs in practical engineering applications.The technologies have been successfully developed,significantly improving key performances of antennas at microwave and millimeter-wave bands.The recently invented metamaterial-based antennas demonstrate not only wide operating bandwidth,high antenna efficiency,high gain,but also significantly reduced volume with simple mechanical structures.