QUEST metamaterial with independent control of permittivity and permeability

Posted on March 17, 2015

Experimental studies into a metamaterial with independent control of the electric and magnetic responses has been reported in the paper "Independently controlling permittivity and diamagnetism in broadband, low-loss, isotropic metamaterials at microwave frequencies", published in Applied Physics Letters. The metamaterial is formed from an array of metallic cubic elements, where the faces of the cubes are connected "through six orthogonal spokes emanating from the centre". The faces are also patterned (i.e., not metallic squares), to control the eddy currents propagating around the cubes; this provides some control of the diamagnetic response, such that the permeability is nearly unity (diamagnetic responses have relative permeabilities between zero and unity). The effective permmittivty is controlled using the permittivity and thickness of the inter-cube spacers.