Tunable metamaterials

A tunable metamaterial is a metamaterial with a variable response to an incident electromagnetic wave. This includes remotely controlling how an incident electromagnetic wave (EM wave) interacts with a metamaterial. This means the capabilitity to determine whether the EM wave is transmitted, reflected, or absorbed. In general, the lattice structure of the tunable metamaterial is adjustable in real time, making it possible to reconfigure a metamaterial device during operation. It encompasses developments beyond the bandwidth limitations in left-handed materials by constructing various types of metamaterials. The ongoing research in this domain includes electromagnetic band gap metamaterials (EBG), also known as photonic band gap (PBG), and negative refractive index material (NIM).

Since natural materials exhibit very weak coupling through the magnetic component of the electromagnetic wave, artificial materials that exhibit a strong magnetic coupling are being researched and fabricated. These artificial materials are known as metamaterials. The first of these were fabricated (in the lab) with an inherent, limited, response to only a narrow frequency band at any given time. Its main purpose was to practically demonstrate metamaterials. The resonant nature of metamaterials results in frequency dispersion and narrow bandwidth operation where the center frequency is fixed by the geometry and dimensions of the rudimentary elements comprising the metamaterial composite. These were followed by demonstrations of metamaterials that were tunable only by changing the geometry and/or position of their components. These have been followed by metamaterials that are tunable in wider frequency ranges along with strategies for varying the frequencies of a single medium (metamaterial). This is in contrast to the fixed frequency metamaterial, which is determined by the imbued parameters during fabrication.

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