1017
Reply to “Comments on ‘Waveguide Miniaturization Using
Uniaxial Negative Permeability Metamaterial’”
Silvio Hrabar, Juraj Bartolic, and Zvonimir Sipus
In their Comments [1], F.-Y. Meng, W. Qun, B.-S. Jin, H.-L. Wang,
and J. Wu expressed their concerns regarding correctness of the use of
left-handed metamaterial theory in the interpretation of experimental
results published in our paper [2]. In their numerical simulations, they
observed a passband at frequency of about 8 GHz (similar to the re-
sults obtained in our experiments [2]). However, the distribution of the
normal components of the magnetic field vectors on the opposite sides
of the modified split-ring resonator (MSRR) ([1, Fig. 1]) does not seem
to be consistent with the theory given in [3]. On the other hand, the
authors of the comment observed the second, unexpected passband,
also located below the waveguide cutoff, at a much lower frequency
(4.6 GHz). Distribution of the magnetic field vectors on a plane per-
pendicular to the MSRR (i.e., on a cross section of the waveguide [1,
Fig. 2]) at frequency of 4.6 GHz seems to be consistent with the theory
presented in [3].
During analysis of the results from [1] and [2], we found a mistake
in our original text [2]. In the experimental part of our paper ([2, Sec.
IV]) it is written, “The rings had inner diameter of 4 mm …” This is a
mistake and the correct sentence should read “The rings had an outer
diameter of 4 mm …” Thus, the MSRR diameter was wrongly stated in
the original article [2]. Due to this mistake, the authors of [1] performed
a full-wave simulation with MSRRs that are significantly larger than
the ones used in our experiments [2].
It is well-known [3], [4] that the first, quasi-static resonance is
responsible for the excitation of dipolar magnetic moment of the
MSRR (and therefore excitation of negative effective permeability).
The dipolar magnetic moment is caused by the fact that the currents
in both rings of the MSRR flow in the same direction [3], [4]. Un-
fortunately, the quasi-static resonance of the MSRR with wrongly
stated diameter is located at a frequency significantly lower than the
resonant frequency of the MSRR with correct dimensions. This new
quasi-static resonance corresponds to an occurrence of an unexpected
passband at frequency of 4.6 GHz and it also corresponds to the
distribution of the magnetic field vectors shown in [1, Fig. 2], which is
consistent with the theory given in [3].
But, where does the distribution at 8 GHz that exhibits inverse
normal components of the magnetic field ([1, Fig. 1]) come from?
The mean circumference of the MSRR with wrongly stated diameter
is equal to 15.7 mm, which is close to half of a free-space wavelength
at 8 GHz (18.75 mm). It is clear that the wavelength of the signals
on the rings is shorter than free-space wavelength due to presence of
the dielectric slab [4]. Taking this fact into account, and the effect of
the slit, one concludes that the effective MSRR circumference is very
close to half of a wavelength. Therefore, we believe that the passband
at 8 GHz observed in [1] corresponds to the second MSRR resonance
[4] and it is not associated with experimental results given in [2]. So, it
is a pure coincidence that the second resonant frequency of the MSRR
Manuscript received October 20, 2006; revised November 25, 2006.
The authors are with the Department of Radiocommunications and Mi-
crowave Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Uni-
versity of Zagreb, Zagreb HR-10000, Croatia (e-mail: Silvio.Hrabar@fer.hr;
Juraj.Bartolic@fer.hr; Zvonimir.Sipus@fer.hr).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2007.891881
0018-926X/$25.00 © 2007 IEEE
Fig. 1. (Derived using CST MW Studio). Computed distribution of the mag-
netic field vectors on a cross-section of the miniaturized waveguide at 8.2 GHz
(the MSRRs with correct diameters; outer diameter of 4 mm).
with wrongly stated diameter happened to be similar to the frequency
of a passband found in experiments of [2]. The hypothesis of occur-
rence of the second resonance at 8 GHz can be proven by analysis of
the currents flowing on the MSRR rings. The currents flowing in two
rings of the MSRR at the second resonance have opposite directions
(please see [4, Fig. 6]). This is the reason [4] why the second MSRR
resonance cannot produce magnetic dipolar moment and cannot excite
the negative magnetic polarization. The inverse currents cause inverse
normal components of the magnetic field vectors on the opposite sides
of the MSRR as shown in [1, Fig. 1].
We have also used CST MW Studio [5] and repeated all simulations
described in [1], with the same simulation parameters and the same
waveguide excitation, but now with the correct MSRR diameter (outer
diameter of 4 mm). We found occurrence of the propagation band at
frequency of 8.2 GHz, which is very close to the experimental result of
7.9 GHz presented in our paper ([2]).
In addition, we computed the distribution of the magnetic field vec-
tors on a plane perpendicular to MSRR (i.e., on a cross section of the
waveguide) at 8.2 GHz (Fig. 1). It can be seen that the MSRR does pro-
duce dipolar magnetic moment. The normal components of the mag-
netic field vectors on the opposite sides of the MSRR are in-phase as
expected by the theory given in [3]. This shows that the passband ob-
tained in our experiments in [2] indeed corresponds to the quasi-static
resonance of the MSRR.
In [1], the authors also stated that “…there is no left handed metama-
terial at all in this case.” In our paper ([2, Fig. 11]), we experimentally
proved the existence of the backward-wave (or left-handed) propaga-
tion. In addition, we have verified the existence of the backward-wave
propagation numerically, as well. The computed distribution of the
magnitude of the normal (x-oriented) component of the magnetic field
vectors at the central plane located at the waveguide line of symmetry
(a plane in which the MSRRs are located), at frequency of 8.2 GHz, is
presented in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2 shows the computed distributions of x-oriented component of
the magnetic field at two instants of time corresponding to phase an-
gles of 0 degrees and 90 degrees (at the source location), respectively.
It can be clearly seen that the pattern in the miniaturized waveguide
(the central part of the figure) moves toward the source (backward-
wave propagation) while the patterns in the feeding J-band waveguides
move outward from the source (forward-wave propagation). Thus, the
miniaturized waveguide indeed behaves as a one-dimensional back-
ward-wave metamaterial (or left-handed metamaterial), as elaborated
in our paper [2].
Finally, we would like to thank the authors of [1] for their comments
that helped us to find an error (the word “inner” instead of “outer”) in
our paper [2] and to additionally verify the backward-wave propagation
in the miniaturized waveguide.
1018

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors would like to express their gratitude to Prof. S. Maci

from the University of Siena, Siena, Italy, for providing them with ac-
cess to the Microwave Studio simulation tool used in the preparation
of this Reply.

Fig. 2. (Derived using CST MW Studio). The snapshots of computed distribu-
tions of x-oriented component of the magnetic field in experimental waveguide
setup from [2] at 8.2 GHz (the MSRRs with correct diameters; outer diameter
of 4 mm). The feeding source is located at the left-hand side. Upper: the field
distribution at the time instant that corresponds to phase angle of 0 degrees at
the source location, Lower: the field distribution at the time instant that corre-
sponds to phase angle of 90 degrees at the source location.
REFERENCES
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Antennas Propag., vol. 55, pt. II, pp. 1016–1017, Mar. 2007.
[2] S. Hrabar, J. Bartolic, and Z. Sipus, “Waveguide miniaturization using
uniaxial negative permeability metamaterial,” IEEE Trans. Antennas
Propag., vol. 53, pp. 110–119, Jan. 2005.
[3] R. Marques, F. Medina, and R. Rafii-El-Idrissi, “Role of bianisotropy
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vol. 65, pp. 144440-1–144440-6, Apr. 2002.
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[5] CST Microwave Studio 5.0 [Online]. Available: www.cst.com