We are pleased to announce the sixth and final speaker for our Student Seminar Series, Justin Pollock, who will be presenting a talk titled “Miniaturization of Metallic Circular Waveguides using Thin Metamaterial Liners and their Applications in Communication and Sensing”.  Come and meet local researchers  in the microwave community and learn about the latest developments in this area.  Free pizza and refreshments will be available.

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Abstract

As society enters the 21st century, it is evident that miniaturization is one of the foremost objectives in engineering. In telecommunications, the performance of several components, such as wave-guiding and radiating structures, is typically wavelength-dependent, which places restrictions on the degree of miniaturization for the so-called “electrical length” of these devices. For example, the minimum frequency for which a waveguide will propagate power is restricted by its physical dimensions. This presentation provides a comprehensive investigation of the miniaturization of circular waveguides through lining their interior with thin epsilon-negative-and-near-zero (ENNZ) metamaterial liners.

A field analysis of this system produces the dispersion of complex modes, and reveals in detail intriguing phenomena such as backward-wave propagation below the unlined waveguide’s fundamental-mode cutoff, resonant tunnelling of power, field collimation, and miniaturization. This presentation will investigate the applications of ENNZ liners towards open-ended waveguide (OEWG) probe antennas for future use in communications, and near-field and material sensing. The talk will conclude with a potential realization of ENNZ liners using an inductively loaded thin-wire grid composed of radially and azimuthally directed wires.