Compact left-handed microstrip line based on multiple layered step impedance resonators

A novel compact left-handed (LH) microstrip transmission line is presented. To establish a negative permeability and permittivity, the transmission line is loaded with step impedance resonators (SIRs) and an array of thin wires on dual-layer architecture. Compared to existing LH structures, which incorporate conventional split ring resonators (SRRs), the proposed structure is three times smaller in size whilst achieving the same performance. To illustrate the electromagnetic properties of the metamaterial, both analytical and full wave analysis were performed and utilized to determine the effective electromagnetic parameters of the proposed structures. The experimental results show that a microstrip line periodically loaded with SIR only produces a rejection of -6 dB at a resonant frequency of 5.50 GHz. The results also indicate a pass-band response for a left-handed microstrip line (LHML) constructed from SIR and thin wire arrays at the same resonant frequency.