Spherical Spiral Metamaterial Unit Cell for Negative Permeability and Negative Permittivity

This paper introduces a 3-D spherical spiral expansion of the split ring resonator (SRR) commonly used to achieve negative permeability. The spherical spiral unit cell is shown to produce negative permeability over a much wider bandwidth than the traditional SRRs, and also to be capable of producing wideband negative permittivity or a double-negative response, depending on the orientation of the unit cell with respect to the incident electric field. The current structures leading to this phenomenon are discussed. Simulated and measured results are presented.