Transmission-line analysis of ε-near-zero–filled narrow channels

Andrea Alù, University of Pennsylvania
Mário G. Silveirinha, Universidade de Coimbra
Nader Engheta, University of Pennsylvania

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Copyright 2008 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. Reprinted in Physical Review E, Volume 78, Article 016604, July 2008.
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.78.016604

Abstract

Following our recent interest in metamaterial-based devices supporting resonant tunneling, energy squeezing, and supercoupling through narrow waveguide channels and bends, here we analyze the fundamental physical mechanisms behind this phenomenon using a transmission-line model. These theoretical findings extend our theory, allowing us to take fully into account frequency dispersion and losses and revealing the substantial differences between this unique tunneling phenomenon and higher-frequency Fabry-Perot resonances. Moreover, they represent the foundations for other possibilities to realize tunneling through arbitrary waveguide bends, both in E and H planes of polarization, waveguide connections, and sharp abruptions and to obtain analogous effects with geometries arguably simpler to realize.