A high gain antenna with a single-layer metamaterial superstrate

Abstract

In this paper, a metamaterial unit cell with low effective permeability attained over a specific frequency band is used to form a planar single-layer metamaterial structure, which is utilized as a lens for broadside gain enhancement of a patch antenna. The proposed metamaterial lens consists of an 8-by-8 matrix of Split-Ring Resonators (SRRs), and is positioned above a probe-fed rectangular patch antenna resonating at 2.71 GHz. Simulation results show that the final antenna configuration achieves 9.78 dB of broadside realized gain, which is about 2 dB higher than the maximum realized gain of the original patch. Moreover, some 10-degree decrement in the Half-Power Beamwidth (HPBW), in both the E- and H-planes, is witnessed at the design frequency.