Extreme subwavelength electric GHz metamaterials

We investigate electric GHz metamaterial resonator arrays with strong electric responses with the goal of reducing the resonator size in comparison to the excitation wavelength. By exploiting capactive coupling between adjacent resonators, we achieve a large effective capacitance and strong coupling to the applied electric field. By adding meander lines to connect the electrodes, we are able to lower the resonant frequency to about 3 GHz and obtain a ratio of wavelength to resonator size of about 30. Additionally, we propose a straight forward path to lower this ratio to about 70. In contrast to other low-frequency designs, our designs do not require vias and maintain strong coupling to the applied field. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.