Double-Lorentz Transmission Line Metamaterial

and its Application to Tri-Band Devices

A. Rennings∗ , T. Liebig∗ , C. Caloz‡ and I. Wolff∗
∗ IMSTGmbH, Carl-Friedrich-Gauß-Str. 2, D-47475 Kamp-Lintfort, Germany
Phone: +49-2842-981-448, Fax: +49-2842-981-299, Email: A.Rennings@ieee.org
‡ École Polytechnique de Montréal, Québec, Canada

Abstract— A double-Lorentz (DL) transmission line (TL) CL Z = Z ′∆

metamaterial is proposed for the first time. Both effective
material parameters µeff and εeff of the corresponding line LP
exhibit a Lorentz-type dispersion, hence the proposed termi- LR
nology double-Lorentz. This type of TL presents the interest CR
of being intrinsically tri-band, while the previously reported
composite right/left-handed TL metamaterial is only dual- CP
band. The DL TL theory is fully derived and demonstrated LL
experimentally by a microstrip implementation. The tri-band Y = Y ′∆
property of the DL TL is illustrated by the design of a tri-
band λ/4 impedance transformer and a systematic design ∆
procedure is described.
Index Terms— Transmission line (TL) metamaterial, com- Figure 1: Incremental circuit model for the double-Lorentz
posite right/left-handed (CRLH) metamaterial, Drude and (DL) transmission line (TL) metamaterial. This 1D model
Lorentz media, tri-band components, impedance transformer. maybe extended to 2D and 3D real material configurations.

I. I NTRODUCTION
Transmission line (TL) metamaterials have lead to many idealized homogeneous counterpart. For this reason, we
guided-wave and antenna applications in the microwave will in this section investigate the properties of the DL TL
regime [1]. While the TL metamaterials proposed so metamaterial mainly in the homogeneous limit, ∆/λg →
far were essentially band-pass composite right/left-handed 0, where the fundamental relations are particulary simple
(CRLH) structures, dual stop-band CRLH metamaterials, and insightful. The DL TL unit cell series impedance Z
with inverted left-handed and right-handed bands, have and shunt admittance Y (Fig. 1) are given by
been reported recently [2]. However, such a dual CRLH ω 2 − ω0se 2
structure is an idealization that cannot be exactly realized Z(ω) = Z ′ (ω) ∆ = j ωLP se 2
= j ωµ0 µr (ω) ∆,
ω 2 − ω∞
in practice. This paper shows that a real dual CRLH r
metamaterial is in fact a double-Lorentz (DL) medium and se 1 se LR + LP
that this material exhibits an intrinsic tri-band property that with ω∞ =√ and ω0 = , (1)
LR CL LR LP CL
may be exploited to design various tri-band transmission 2
line based microwave components. ω 2 − ω0sh
Y (ω) = Y ′ (ω) ∆ = j ωCP 2 = j ωǫ0 ǫr (ω) ∆,
ω 2 − ω∞
sh
II. D OUBLE -L ORENTZ TL M ETAMATERIAL r
sh 1 CR + CP
Fig. 1 shows the incremental circuit model of a DL with ω∞ =√ and ω0sh = . (2)
TL metamaterial, which consists in the combination of LL CR LL CR CP
the ideal dual CRLH prototype [2] (parallel tank circuit The corresponding metamaterial constitutive parameters
with lumped elements LR , CL in the series path of the are directly obtained by Eqs. (1) and (2) as µr (ω) =
TL and series circuit of LL , CR in its shunt path) and of Z ′ (ω)/(jωµ0 ) and εr (ω) = Y ′ (ω)/(jωε0 ), respectively.
the parasitic series inductance LP and shunt capacitance These relations are plotted in Fig. 2 for a specific set of LC
CP . A DL TL does not exist in nature, but it may be parameters. Both µr (ω) and εr (ω) exhibit a Lorentz-type
engineered under the form of a metamaterial structure by dispersion [3] – hence the proposed terminology double-
repeating periodically the unit cell of Fig. 1, under the Lorentz (DL) – whereas CRLH metamaterials exhibit a
condition that this cell be subwavelength in the frequency double-Drude response [1] and split-ring/thin-wire struc-
range of operation. In this range, the response of the actual tures exhibit a mixed Lorentz-Drude response [4]. While
lumped-element structure is indiscernible from that of its a mixed Lorentz-Drude medium is fundamentally narrow

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 100 1.0 20
RH εr ideal dual CRLH (homog.)
µr double Lorentz (homog.) fcP
50 0.5 15 double Lorentz (LC impl.)
se sh
ω∞ ≈ ω∞

frequency [GHz]
RH
0 0.0 ω0se ≈ ω0sh
10

µr
εr

LH f3 = 8.6 GHz
ω0se ≈ ω0sh fcL f2 = 6.0 GHz
-50 -0.5
5

f
se
ω∞ sh
≈ ω∞ f1 = 0.8 GHz cR
-100 -1.0
0 5 10 15 0 -1/10 1/10
frequency [GHz] -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
β ∆/π
Figure 2: DL TL metamaterial constitutive parameters
Figure 3: Dispersion diagram computed for the same
obtained from Eqs. (1) and (2) as µr (f ) = Z ′ /(j2πf µ0 )
parameter set as in Fig. 2 but different approximations
and εr (f ) = Y ′ /(j2πf ε0 ) for the following parameters:
are used: (1) ideal homogeneous dual CRLH TL [2],
LR = 1.30 nH, CL = 1.30 pF, LL = 1.33 nH, CR =
(2) homogeneous DL TL with the consideration of the
1.36 pF, LP = 0.65 nH, CP = 0.58 pF, ∆ = 3.6 mm.
parasitic elements LP and CP computed by Eq. (3) and
(3) inhomogeneous DL TL where the finite length of the
unit cell has been taken into account - plotted with Eq. (8).
band, due to the resonant nature of its Lorentz part, a DL
medium can achieve a broader bandwidth, due to the sim-
ilar frequency dependence of both µ and ε. Additionally,
a DL medium has the useful property of being tri-band
(Sec. IV), which can be exploited to transform microwave As the CRLH structure, the DL structure can be balanced,
components into devices operating simultaneously at three i.e. it can be designed as to exhibit a gap-less transition
different frequencies. By comparison, the Drude-Drude between the left-handed and right-handed bands. In the
CRLH metamaterial is only dual-band. case of the DL medium this condition is twofold,
se sh
The dispersion relation for the homogeneous DL TL, ω∞ = ω∞ ≡ ω∞ and ω0se = ω0sh ≡ ω0 . (5)
kh (ω) = −jγh (ω) = βh (ω) − jαh (ω), is obtained from
the immittances of Eqs. (1) and (2) as In the design of Fig. 2, this condition is approximately
v satisfied. Under the balanced condition, the complex
u
2 se 2 2 sh 2 wavenumber, kh in Eq. (3), and the complex characteristic
p ω u
t ω − ω0 ω − ω0 ,
kh (ω) ∆ = −Z(ω) Y (ω) = impedance, Zh in Eq. (4), reduce to purely real quantities,
ωP ω 2 − ω∞ se 2 2
ω − ω∞ sh 2
ω ω 2 − ω02
1 βh (ω) ∆ = , (6)
with ωP = √ , (3) ωP ω 2 − ω∞
2
LP CP r r r
LR LL LP
and is plotted in Fig. 3 for the same parameters as in Fig. 2. Zhbal = = = , (7)
CR CL CP
As it may be seen in Eq. (3) and observed in Fig. 3, the DL
TL medium has six characteristic eigenfrequencies, one and therefore the aforementioned medium gaps close
zero at the origin [β(ω = 0) = 0], two poles delimiting up. Additionally, the characteristic impedance becomes
a bandstop filter type gap [β(ω = ω∞ se sh
, ω∞ ) = ∞], frequency-independent, which enables broadband match-
se sh
two zeros [β(ω = ω0 , ω0 ) = 0] higher in frequency ing.
delimiting a spectral gap, and one pole at high frequency When the DL TL is implemented with real finite-size
corresponding to the low-pass filtering effect of the par- LC unit cells (∆/λg 9 0) but still with subwavelength
asitic elements LP and CP . The characteristic impedance (or lumped) dimension (∆/λg < 1/4), all of the above
for the homogeneous DL TL, Zh (ω), is obtained from the analysis still holds, except that its accuracy progressively
immittances of Eqs. (1) and (2) as decreases as frequency moves away from ω = 0 and ω =
ω0 , which correspond to the phase origins (∆/λg = 0)
s v
sh 2
u
ω 2 − ω0se 2 ω 2 − ω∞
r
Z(ω) LP u of the DL structure. The corresponding dispersion relation
Zh (ω) = = t
se 2 2 2.
Y (ω) CP ω 2 − ω∞ ω − ω0sh is derived by Bloch theory [1] from the general formula
(4) k(ω)∆ = arccos[1 + Z(ω)Y (ω)/2], which becomes in the

1428
balanced case with Eqs. (1) and (2)
" 2 # UNIT CELL OVERALL VIEW
1 ω ω 2 − ω02

MIM vias
k(ω) ∆ = arccos 1 − . (8) propagation
2 ωP ω 2 − ω∞
2
direction
LR
CL CR
LL LR LL
This relation shows the existence of two filtering stop CR
bands (one stop-band ranges from fcR to fcL and the other elevated ground CL
for MIM capacitor
one starts at fcP ) as depicted in Fig. 3. Exact formulas for microstrip layer
ground via
the cutoff frequencies fcR , fcL and fcP can be derived as MIM layer
ground
solution of the equation Z(ω) Y (ω) + 4 = 0 [1], but this
will not be done here due to lack of space.
After showing that the proposed TL metamaterial ex- Figure 5: Microstrip implementation of a DL TL structure,
hibits a DL phase dispersion, it is essential to investigate including two metal layers in addition to the ground plane.
its impedance characteristics, more particularly its Bloch The series inductance LP and shunt capacitance CP are of
impedance, ZB , which is the impedance that will be seen parasitic nature and thus implicit.
by the wave at the input of the DL TL and therefore
the impedance that will determine matching. This im- Unit Cell
pedance is identical to a homogeneous limit characteristic
impedance
p [Eq.p7] at the phase origins [ZB (ω → 0, ω0 ) →
LR /CR = LL /CL ] and may be set to the constant
port termination at this frequencies, but varies both across
Port 1 Port 2
the unit cell and in frequency away from the phase origins,
which limits bandwidth. The Bloch impedance, computed
from the ABCD matrix of the unit cell [1], is plotted in
Fig. 4 to illustrate these facts. Figure 6: Microstrip DL TL prototype. Both substrates
are Duroid 5870. The thicknesses of the lower and upper
100
substrates are 0.508 mm and 0.127 mm, respectively. The
small unbalance spectral gap

Re(ZB)
Im(ZB)
structure includes N = 5 unit cells of length ∆ = 3.6
80 mm. The extracted DL LC parameters for this design are
Blochimpedance [Ω] →

stop-band filtering gap

those given in the caption of Fig. 2.

60

40 the appropriate phase zero as the phase origin), as well

as analytical results obtained by Eq. (8) from extracted
20 LC parameters are depicted. Excellent agreement between
these three types of results can be observed, which shows
0 that the DL TL medium can be well realized in practice
in planar circuit technology, analyzed by standard TL and
0 2 4 6 8 10
frequency [GHz] → Bloch theory, and perfectly modeled by the unit cell circuit
of Fig. 1. At a phase origin the guided wavelength is
Figure 4: Bloch impedance ZB (ω) of the DL TL for the infinite, as illustrated in the inset of Fig. 7. The scattering
same parameters as in Fig. 2 (slightly unbalanced). parameters for the microstrip DL TL of Fig. 6 are given
in Fig. 8. The filtering stop band is clearly apparent. The
III. P RACTICAL I MPLEMENTATION insertion loss is relatively low in the pass bands, and could
Figs. 5 and 6 show the perspective view of the unit cell be further reduced by improving the balance (slightly
layout and the prototype, respectively, of a DL TL structure imperfect here) of the design.
implemented in microstrip technology. This structure is
IV. T RI -BAND D ESIGN P ROCEDURE AND
a two-metal layer (plus the ground plane) structure with
A PPLICATION TO A λ/4 I MPEDANCE T RANSFORMER
short strip inductors and metal-insulator-metal (MIM) ca-
pacitors. In Fig. 7 the dispersion diagram for the design The DL TL is inherently tri-band, which means
of Fig. 6, including measurement and full-wave (FDTD that is has sufficient degrees of freedom to achieve a
tool Empire XCcell) results using transmission phase un- given desired electrical length at three distinct frequen-
wrapping, β∆ = (−ϕunwrapped {S21 } + m · 2π)/N (where cies while preserving matching. The TL has 6 vari-
N is the number of cells and m is an integer selecting ables, LR , LL , LP , CR , CL , CP , which are related to the

1429
 10 in the three unknowns ωP , ω∞ , ω0 ; 5) design the layout
Stopband RH
Empire (FDTD) of the DL TL unit cell that realizes the parameters Zhbal ,
8 Measurement ωP , ω∞ , ω0 .
Analytic Eq. (8) Fig. 9 shows the tri-band response of the DL TL in
frequency [GHz] →

Fig. 6. This design is far from optimal (unbalanced) but

6 LH it provides a proof of concept for the tri-band property of
DL TL metamaterial structures.
4 100
Re(ZIn)
Im(ZIn)
80
2
f1=0.8 GHz
RH f2=6.0 GHz

impedance [ Ω] →
f2=8.6 GHz
(-90 deg) (+90 deg) (-90 deg)
60
0
−1 −0.5 0 0.5 1
β∆/π → 40

Figure 7: Dispersion diagram for the microstrip DL TL

20
structure of Fig. 6, including measurement results, full-
wave results (with the FDTD tool Empire XCcell) and
0
analytical results obtained by Eq. (8). The inset shows the
uniform field distribution at the phase origin. 0 2 4 6 8 10
frequency [GHz] →

0 Figure 9: Input impedance Zin (ω) of the DL TL in Fig. 6

matching a load of Zout = 50 Ω to Zin = 22.5 Ω by
−10 providing
√ the characteristic impedance of Ztransformer =
Zin Zout = 33.5 Ω and a phase shift of ±90◦ at the three
S−parameter [dB] →

−20 frequencies of operation (f1 = 0.8 GHz, f2 = 6.0 GHz

and f3 = 8.6 GHz).
−30

V. C ONCLUSION
−40
S11 Empire (FDTD) A DL TL metamaterial has been presented for the first
S21 Empire (FDTD) time. This DL TL metamaterial is intrinsically tri-band,
−50
S11 Measurement while the CRLH version is only dual-band. The DL TL
S21 Measurement theory has been derived and a DL TL structure imple-
−60
0 5 10 15 20 mented in microstrip technology has been demonstrated
frequency [GHz] → experimentally. The tri-band property of the DL TL has
been illustrated by the design of a tri-band λ/4 impedance
Figure 8: S-parameter for the microstrip DL TL of Fig. 6.
transformer and a corresponding general design procedure
has been described.

6 parameters, ω∞ se sh
, ω∞ , ω0se , ω0sh , ωP and characteristic im- ACKNOWLEDGMENT
pedance. When the design is balanced [Eq. (5)], these The authors wish to thank H. V. Nguyen for his technical
parameters reduce to the 4 values ω∞ , ω0 , ωP and Zhbal . and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for their
From these 4 parameters, the tri-band design procedure financial support in this project.
is as follows: 1) choose a TL characteristic impedance R EFERENCES
Zhbal , typically 50 Ω; 2) specify the three desired operating
[1] C. Caloz and T. Itoh, Electromagnetic Metamaterials, Transmission
frequencies, ωn (n = 1, 2, 3), which will correspond to the Line Theory and Microwave Appl., Wiley and IEEE Press, 2005.
intended TL phase shifts φn = −βn N ∆, where the βn ’s [2] C. Caloz, “Dual composite right/left-handed (D-CRLH) transmission
are obtained from Eq. (6); 3) select a number of cells N line metamaterial,” Microwave Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 16,
no. 11, pp. 585–587, 2006.
such that the phase shift of the cell at each frequency be [3] A. Sihvola, Electromagnetic Mixing Formulas and Appl., IEE, 1999.
smaller than 90◦ (metamaterial or longwavelength condi- [4] D. R. Smith, D. C. Vier, N. Kroll, and S. Schultz. “Direct calculation
tion); 4) following
Eq. (6), solve the
system of 3 equations, of permeability and permittivity for a left-handed metamaterial,” App.
Phys. Lett., vol. 77, no. 14, pp. 2246–2248, Oct. 2000.
φn ωP ωn2 − ω∞ 2
+ ωn ωn2 − ω02 = 0, (n = 1, 2, 3),

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