Omnidirectional Metamaterial Antennas Based on epsilon-Near-Zero Channel Matching

We present an analytical model and practical design tools to realize cylindrically-symmetric compact antennas based on the anomalous transmission properties of epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) ultranarrow radial channels. The flexibility and exotic propagation properties in ENZ metamaterial channels are exploited here to tune and match cylindrically-symmetric antennas, without the need of complex externalmatching networks, in order to realize exciting antenna designs in terms of size, complexity and efficiency. We first model a homogenized Drude dispersive ENZ metamaterial channel to feed a radial parallel-plate waveguide; next we suggest a practical realization of this channel by using radial fins; eventually, we apply the obtained design formulas to realize single- and multi-band cylindrical antennas with a wide tunability range. The designed antennas may operate in the ultra-high frequency (UHF) band and may be realistically tuned over a large bandwidth. We envision applications in frequency-hopping, multi-band, compact, omnidirectional antennas.