Left-handed metamaterial inspired by joint T-D geometry on flexible NiAl2O4 substrate

In this paper, we introduce a new compact left-handed tunable metamaterial structure, inspired by a joint T-D shape geometry on a flexible NiAl2O4 substrate. The designed metamaterial exhibits an extra-large negative refractive index bandwidth of 6.34 GHz, with an operating frequency range from 4 to 18 GHz. We demonstrate the effects of substrate material thickness on the effective properties of metamaterial using two substrate materials: 1) flame retardant 4 and 2) flexible nickel aluminate. A finite integration technique based on the Computer Simulation Technology Microwave Studio electromagnetic simulator was used for our design, simulation, and investigation. A finite element method based on an HFSS (High Frequency Structure Simulator) electromagnetic simulator is also used to simulate results, perform verifications, and compare the measured results. The simulated resonance peaks occurred at 6.42 GHz (C-band), 9.32 GHz (X-band), and 16.90 GHz (Ku-band), while the measured resonance peaks occurred at 6.60 GHz (C-band), 9.16 GHz (X-band) and 17.28 GHz (Ku-band). The metamaterial structure exhibited biaxial tunable properties by changing the electromagnetic wave propagation in the y and z directions and the left-handed characteristics at 11.35 GHz and 13.50 GHz.