Invention:
This invention is an effective gain medium that overcompensates for the loss of a conventional passive metamaterial, meanwhile keeping its original negative-index property. This material can be used to solve the critical challenge current metamaterial technology faces in practical applications.
Background:
Using energy conservation-based theory, full-wave simulation and experimental measurement, the inventors have shown that a fabricated sample consisting of conventional sub-wavelength building blocks with embedded microwave tunnel diodes exhibits a band-limited Lorentzian dispersion simultaneously with a negative refractive index and a net gain.
Applications:
- Super lensing
- Electromagnetic invisibility
- RF communications
- Military technology
- Sonar aversion
- Radar aversion
- Potential for use in deep sea water
Advantages:
- Overcompensates for passive losses of radiation due to dispersion
- Easily manufactured
- Requires materials that are readily available
- Exhibits versatility across numerous applications
Status: issued U.S. patent #10,431,897
