Anomalous reflection and refraction in anisotropic metamaterial realized by periodically loaded transmission line network

We have studied the electromagnetic wave propagation in two-dimensional anisotropic metamaterial (AMM) by realizing the AMM through periodic structure composed of anisotropically loaded transmission line (TL) network. The dispersion relation of the TL metamaterial is analyzed by rigorous periodic TL theory, which shows hyperbolic dispersion surface in phase space below certain critical frequency. Utilizing microstrip line technique, we have constructed an interface between isotropic normal medium and a particular type of AMM with properly designed normal TL mesh and the loaded TL network, respectively. The electromagnetic wave propagation in such system has been analyzed with the consideration of circuit losses using microwave circuit simulations. We directly demonstrate interesting phenomena including the total reflection with inversion of the critical angle at small incident angle as well as the oblique total transmission at large incident angle at the interface, which have good agreement with the theoretical prediction. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.